Let Me Show You The World In My Eyes
by esdiferente
Summary: The world as we know it has been destroyed, two centuries after the 'Great Ending' England is a different place; a harder place to find happiness and a more dangerous place in which to live. Let's see how our favourite girls get on shall we?


**Let Me Show You The World In My Eyes**

**Disclaimer –** As usual I own nothing but a large amount of debt and a severe lack of talent. Certainly nothing to do with Skins, (which makes me very upset)

**Premise – **The world as we know it has been destroyed, two centuries after the 'Great Ending' England is a different place; a harder place to find happiness and a more dangerous place in which to live. Let's see how our favourite girls get on shall we?

**Rating –** M+

**Warnings –** As usual, this story is based around Skins characters so _adult themes and acts _as well as bad language from the start. If you're offended by these then don't read. If you're offended or upset by anything I write then _please_ don't read OK? If you've read my work before you know I'm not one to shy away from stuff and as it's possible that there's going to be some fairly graphic bits in this read the rating it's there for a reason.

**Authors Note - **So, this was written in 15 days for the Skins Big Bang. The idea popped into my head and wouldn't go away and was originally supposed to be a short 20K oneshot...yeah, like that ever works for me.

One small technical note, the language I use and the spellings in here are deliberate, this story isn't set in our time and language has changed along the way. Everything gets explained so bear with it, it shouldn't be too hard to understand!

Finally big props to my test readers, especially Lazyboo, thanks to Kat for sorting out the LJ version, and a big thank you to Vangoghgurrl for all the encouragement to write more and for coming up with what, in my opinion, is not only a beautiful title for the story, but a simply perfect one as well...I hope you'll all agree.

Thanks for giving this a read; and, as always, enjoy

Es

_Part One - Winter_

It was a cold, hard wind that blew across the wasteland, driving the dust and dirt before it. The lone figure that struggled against the gale stopped and looked around herself; the vivid blue eyes scanning the skyline through the scratched goggles that protected her eyes. Slowly she pulled the mask from her face, put her fingers in her mouth and whistled loudly.

There was an answering bark from the rusting ruin of a car and a large figure shouldered itself out through the gaping hole, where a windscreen once sat, and bounded across to her, its sable coat bouncing as the powerful legs carried it across the ground to its mistress.

"I told you to stay close Dog," she told it sternly wrapping the heavy long coat around herself against the cold wind. "It's getting late boy, we'll need to find somewhere to camp soon and I haven't got time to mess about looking for you."

She slipped the rubber mask over her face, the twin filters covering her nose and mouth once more, protecting her from the dust that was almost certainly still carrying what the locals called the glowing death. The dog whined sadly and was rewarded with an answering scratch behind the ears; a scratch that announced in more than words her forgiveness.

"Let's go Dog," the muffed voice announced and, hitching her pack into a more comfortable position on her back, Naomi Campbell strode on into the darkening skies looking for that most elusive of things in the battered wasteland that was once called England; safety.

No-one knew what had really happened, that was lost in the dim, dark past. It was said that two hundred years had passed since the time of what had become known as 'The Great Ending'; and there were as many stories told about how it happened as there were people that died in it. Stories that told of seas boiling and skies burning; stories that told of a great plague that swept around the planet, stories that told of a mighty shaking of the earth that destroyed the old world, the old civilization. Naomi Campbell knew all those stories and more, and she believed none of them. Naomi Campbell wasn't a believer, all that Naomi Campbell believed in was the bow that she carried over her back and the blade she carried on her leg.

Naomi Campbell had made the mistake of believing in things before, she would never make that mistake again.

It was almost dark when she came upon the wreckage; it wasn't ideal, but it gave her somewhere she could at least set up camp, put up her tent and get some much needed sleep. She shook her head in disgust at her rude camp, it had been many weeks since she'd slept with a proper roof over her head and she was sick and tired of roughing it. Still, as far as camps went, this was one of her better ones, the wreck of the boat forming a windbreak that allowed her to build up her fire and take off her mask.

"Hungry Dog?" she asked pulling the meat off the spit that she had set up over her fire and tossing it over. Dog wolfed it down hungrily, licking his chops and looking up expectantly. Naomi laughed and threw across the rest of the carcass, licking the grease from her fingers. She settled back happily, for the first time in many days warm and content; watching as her friend chomped down. They had both been lucky, today had been a good hunt; two rabbits and a seagull, that had flown too far inland, falling victim to her prowess with a bow. It wasn't always like that, in fact it was her first proper meal in nearly a week, the pair of them living on the contents of her pack and the bugs and worms that she dug up from the ground. They might be nourishing, but they didn't fill her belly, even with the tricks she knew with plants and roots to make a thin meal taste better.

With a lazy hand she reached into her pack to pull out a small lamp, plugging it into the small solar panel she'd sewn into the top of her rucksack. As the single bulb flickered into life she reached into the bag once more and reverently drew out a small bound book. Naomi loved books; in a world where the most interesting thing in your village was when the storytellers came to town, books gave you a release, a way of escaping from the drudgery of the day to day life that she used to endure.

Naomi loved books, but if she loved one book more than any other that she had read, it was this one. This was the book she'd been given by one of the storytellers when she was a girl, it was her pride and joy and apart from Dog, the only thing in her life she was prepared to die for. She had read the pages again and again, poring over them, absorbing each and every word. It was this book that had inspired her to run, run away from her old life and strike out on her own, looking to see what was over the next hillside, what was at the other end of the valley.

Life in England after the 'Great Ending' had been hard, the storytellers told tales of the great age of plenty that had gone before. Where everyone had food and light and warmth, no-one died from disease and how they had lawfulness and order and all that went with it.

All of the things that no longer existed. Some of the oldest people in her village had told tales that they had heard from their grandparents who had heard them from their parents; people who claimed to have lived in the age of plenty. Tales of magical communication devices, and of paintings that came to life and told stories of their own. Like all of the other children she had sat around the fire enthralled as they spoke, dreaming of this golden age. As she grew up she became more cynical, more jaded; believing that the stories were nothing more than the ramblings of deluded old people, that nothing like that could ever have been real.

Naomi had believed in things before, she wouldn't do that ever again.

Naomi had believed the village healer with all her heart when he told her that everything was fine when he took her mother to the birthing hut at the edge of the village; she had reluctantly believed him when he told her that her mother's screams were a normal part of giving birth, leaving the birthing hut shaking her young head as he flicked her with water using the freshly cut branch of mistletoe; 'powerful magic', he had told her reassuringly, 'your mother is safe in my hands'. She hadn't believed that, nor did she believe him when he told the village that her mother had died painlessly, her sad loss merely due to an unavoidable complication with the birth. She didn't believe him because the evidence proved him wrong, the sound of her mother's screams still ringing in her ears.

She hadn't believed them when they told her she would still have a valued place in the village, that they would look after her like her mother would have done; what she found out was that she did have a place, right at the bottom. If a cess pit needed digging they called for Naomi, despite her tender years. If the cattle needed mucking out, they called for Naomi; when they wanted to laugh at someone to brighten their days they called for poor orphan Naomi. Most of her days in the village had been ones of toil and misery, sleeping with the horses and the goats, eating scraps for food and always feeling the gnawing pain of hunger. One day she went out into the woods and made her own bow, and tried to hunt; day after day when her chores were done she would sneak away from 'her' barn and try and fail to kill her own meal.

One day the village Smith had taken pity on her; he had spied her trudging dejectedly back from another unsuccessful foray in the nearby forest.

" 'ere Crapbell," he had called using the horrible nickname that seem to have stuck to her like the smell of horse shit that had earned her it. "I got you these, my lad won't use them now he's been struck lame with the pox."

Gruffly he'd proffered her a proper bow and arrows with carefully made m'al heads, forged lovingly in his smithy from scraps brought in by the village folk; arrows that were finished with fletching that was both glued and strung. It was day and night better than what she had made for herself, barely more than a bent sapling; powerful enough to shot her roughly made arrows, but seemingly not powerful enough to kill, even if her hand-made arrows hit the target.

"Why?" she'd asked, hanging back suspiciously, not used to a kind word let alone this level of generosity. "Why would you give that to me?"

"Because my JJ isn't going to be able to use it now is he?" he'd told the twelve year old girl. "Might as well see someone get some use out of it. Mind though, you'll need to build up those arms if you're going to draw it I think."

"I can draw it," she'd said offended at the slight. "I'm strong, years of shovelling shit for this place has seen to that; I'm very strong!"

The smith laughed at that and held out the bow again, "Go on then prove it, draw it and hit that tree."

Naomi had done just that, surprising the hell out of the good natured man as well as herself. She had only _just_ hit the tree, and it was probably more good luck than skill if honesty was the case but hit it she had, and that resounding thud had marked the end of that unpleasant second phase of her life and signalled the beginning of the third.

Naomi lay back against the upturned cabin of the boat and read her book once more, thumbing through the well worn pages in the dying light of her lamp. Dog was curled up against her side and the fire was dying down. Reluctantly she closed her book and folded it back into the waterproof cloth she habitually wrapped around it, to protect it from the elements, before sliding it into her pack once more. She quickly threw some more of the scrawny branches she'd collected onto the fire, building it up some more and praying to the fire Gods that it would stay lit through the night. Her camp chores done she crawled into her tent, and lay, her head facing the fire, in her sleeping bag and turned out her light, saving the weak charge for another night. It wasn't until she felt the reassuring 'thump' of Dog settling down next to her once more did Naomi Campbell allow herself to sleep.

o+o+o

It was the soft throb of Dog's side that woke her, her hand resting as it habitually did on his broad chest. It woke her before she heard the rising sound of his warning growl. Always alert to the danger of the wasteland, she was roused immediately; blue eyes hard as she scanned the darkness beyond the faint light of the dying fire.

Slowly she slid herself out of her bag, hushing Dog with a faint hand on his head. The silence was immense, crushing almost, as she crawled out into the night, her hand automatically reaching for the machete she never slept without; it's long curved blade wickedly sharp and blooded more than once.

Carefully she eased her mask down over her face once more, covering the nose and mouth, the protection having the extra advantage of silencing the sound of her breathing. Whomever it was that had thought it clever to sneak up on her camp was going to learn the error of their ways; Naomi Campbell might have been young in years, but she truly was an old head on young shoulders.

Slowly she crept out to beyond the light of the fire, giving her eyes a few seconds to adjust to the darkness. Beside her Dog was sniffing the air carefully, knowing as well as she did the need for stealth. Naomi looked down at him as his eyes fixed on a small rise in the ground, his nose pointing the way as straight as any arrow. Softly she patted him on the head, her fingers scratching the soft fur in between his eyes before leaning back and pressed down on his lower back, knowing that her silent command would get him to sit and wait for her until called.

Slowly she eased her way over to the bluff, crawling low as she reached the edge to avoid being seen, this was not a time for bravado; she had no idea what had alerted Dog to danger, or indeed how many things might be out there.

As her eyes relaxed, allowing as much light in as possible, she made out a lone figure, making its way towards her, skirting the edges of her camp, just out of the range of the firelight. It was a small figure and even in the barely existent light Naomi could see that it was bundled in clothes against the cold, its face obscured by rags. It held in its hand a long pole and it held it, not as a staff, but as a weapon.

Naomi crawled backwards down the bluff and looked back to the barely visible shape that was Dog; she raised a hand and beckoned him, a pleased smile reaching her lips as he ran silently across the dirt towards her, dropping down obediently as she patted the ground next to her.

They lay in silent ambush as their prey inched towards them, there was no fieldcraft in this one, it made little attempt to silence its footsteps or disguise its breathing. Instead it shuffled its feet as if it were the walking dead, and its breath sounded hoarse and rasp. Naomi was flooded with stories of the ghouls of the barren wastelands beyond the village. The barely alive souls that scraped an existence feeding off the dead, or the weak, or the foolish. Was this one of the creatures of legend? Naomi didn't know, but there was no way that this one would be eating her or Dog, it would fall beneath her knife and that would be that.

Naomi waited until the figure was almost on top of her to strike; it was almost too simple. As the shuffling legs passed her hiding place she reached out an arm and grabbed at an ankle, hauling the figure to the ground. It hit the dirt with a grunt and Naomi struck, leaping onto the stricken body and pushing the edge of her knife against its throat, Dog standing next to her teeth bared in silent threat. The eyes of the creature appeared dark and menacing in the black of the night, hollow and empty, surrounded with shadows. The creature was changing its gaze constantly as it sought to evaluate it's situation, glancing quickly from Naomi to Dog and then back again. Naomi took a breath and prepared to strike, prepared to pull the blade of her machete through the soft tissue, slicing through the jugular vein and ending this ghoul's existence. Her arm tensed, the powerful muscles reacting as she pressed down; the blade searching though the folds of cloth to the skin, dead or undead, underneath. As she went to draw the blade, ending the pathetic creatures life she was stopped by a sound that emitted from underneath the rags, a sound that would change her life forever.

"Please don't kill me, I didn't mean any harm…I'm just trying to get home!"

o+o+o

"What the fuck are you!" Naomi hissed, her arm for the moment steady, the downward pressure on the blade unwavering.

"What do you mean? I don't understand?"

"Are you man or beast?" she said, pressing down harder, hearing the laboured intake of breath as the frightfully sharp edge dug in.

"Neither," came the half choked reply from the creature below her, "I'm just a girl."

Reaching up with her free hand Naomi dragged down the rags that were covering the face, revealing pale, but unmistakably human, skin. She eased back on her blade arm, taking the pressure from the girls throat. She felt the girls chest heave under her as she sucked in the air hungrily; hurriedly Naomi covered her face once more before she sucked in any more of the killing dust.

"What do you want here?" she demanded harshly, "Why were you sneaking around my camp?"

"I…I was just looking for some shelter," the girl said, her voice low and sounding sore. "I saw the fire and thought, well…"

"Why didn't you announce yourself? Don't you know you can be killed for less?"

The girls eyes flashed angrily, visible even in the darkness of the night, before sinking into blackness once more, her body tensing and then slumping as they did so. The girl seemed broken, Naomi thought, but there was still a little fire left inside; she recognised the signs, she had been that way herself for so long.

"I'm on my own," the girl said, "I didn't want to risk just calling out to the camp…I wanted to see who was in it first, see if it was safe."

Naomi snorted as she considered the words, she'd never been afraid of approaching a camp, though admittedly she rarely saw them these days; the roads she walked being sparsely populated at best.

"I just wanted to be warm," the girl continued, "It feels like I've been cold for weeks now, it's always cold."

"Then make a fire," Naomi snapped unsympathetically, getting off the girl and dusting herself down, her blade still pointing at the stranger.

"I don't know how," the girl admitted quietly, not moving from her position on the floor.

"Then learn, and stay the fuck away from my camp," Naomi snapped angrily. She was in fact a little relieved, she'd managed to scare herself more than a little as her imagination ran wild in the dark. She was also ashamed of herself, a seventeen year old traveller with a years experience on the road should know better than to be spooked by shadows and small girls. "If I see you creeping around again I'll kill you."

"Please," the girl said slowly sitting up, "let me stay. Just for one night, I wont be any trouble I promise; please just let me share your fire."

Naomi stared down at the girl, now no longer a monstrous demon, now nothing more than a cringing broken animal; as she looked down, her heart softened at the all too familiar words, words she'd uttered once herself, what seemed like a lifetime ago.

o+o+o

Winters were hard in the village where Naomi grew up; in her early years with her mother they have been hard, but filled with joy. They lived in their small hut, made from planks of wood and a roof made from the expensive m'al sheeting that had been brought in years before from the wasteland by one of the trader caravans; sheets that rang musically as the rain hammered down on it during the rainy season. Their home was tiny, but it was snug, it was dry and most of all it was warm; the roaring fire in the hearth filling the room with heat and light, the smoke being channelled up through a clever tube that Peet the Smith called a 'chinny'.

Naomi used to lie for hours at night, her head facing the fire and look into its dancing flames, fascinated by the motions and the different colours; reds, yellows and oranges merging together in the flickering tongues of fire.

After the deaths of her mother and her stillborn brother it had been different, the elders had decreed that her house was the village's to do with as they pleased. Naomi wasn't old enough to have rights in their tiny community and she was cast out to live on the good graces of the other villagers; finding food and shelter wherever she could. Finally bullied and broken by the indifference and cruelty of the people that had once claimed her as one of their own she had been forced to flee to the animal sheds and set up her home there.

It had been a cold winters night that had finally crushed her spirit, she had left the bleak isolation of the communal meeting hut, the fires long since extinguished, in search of warmth and fellowship. Naomi was a lonely girl, but she wasn't a loner. She _wanted_ people around her, people that would talk to her, touch her; people that would help her forget the pain of her loss. But Naomi was also pretty much an outcast in her own community, and wherever she went she was turned away. Finally, with a bravery she did not know she had, Naomi made her way to the largest hut in their village, the home of the Chief Elder. Her hand was shaking with cold and nerves she knocked on the large wooden door and stepped back, head lowered, and waited for it to open.

"What do you want Crapbell?" a voice rang out as the door opened and Naomi got a tantalising hint of the warmth and light inside. She could smell a haunch of meat cooking over the fire and her empty stomach clenched involuntarily.

"I'm looking for somewhere to sleep Jam," she said quietly to the son of the elder, a boy that she had once played in the streets with. "I'm cold, and lonely and frightened. I came to ask Chief Elder Co'ok if he would allow me to stay for the night."

"Father!" Jam called out loudly into their large hut, showing the difference in their status with the simple, unconscious act, "Naomi Campbell is here asking for you, she has a request of you." The sneer in his voice was unmistakable; since the loss of her family, and for other reasons, Jam Co'ok was her tormentor. The chief's son, the main protagonist in her continuing misery; creating the nickname that haunted her, throwing mud and stones at her and encouraging the others to do the same.

"What do you want Campbell?" the Chief Elder asked appearing in the doorway. "Speak quickly child, you are letting the winter into my home."

"Great Chief," Naomi started her head still lowered, afraid to meet the hard eyes that looked down on her. "I come before you to beg a place to stay for the night, midwinter is almost upon us and there is snow on the ground. The wolves are howling outside and I am cold and scared. Please, Great Chief, allow me one night by your fire so I can be warm; I promise I will be no burden or bother to you."

She knelt in supplication before him, raising her eyes carefully awaiting his judgement, watching as he clasped his hand onto his sons shoulder; her heart sinking at the sight.

"What do you think Jam?" he said loftily looking down on the kneeling girl, "If you are to take my place one day as Chief Elder you will need to learn to make decisions like this. Shall we agree to let Campbell stay one night at our hearth?"

"I think not father," Jam said sneering down at the girl. "Crapbell has her place in the village hall, if she finds it not to her liking now perhaps we should refuse her that luxury and send her to live with the animals. After all father, she lives like an animal now, covered in filth; we should send her to the cattle sheds to live with her own kind."

"Let it be as you say my son." Chief Elder Co'ok said haughtily, drawing himself up to his full height. "It is our wish that you leave both our door and your sanctuary in our Hall; a place granted to you out of pity at your loss. You will continue to work for your food, but no longer are you welcome here, you will sleep with the animals as my son decrees."

He closed the door on the shivering Naomi, as the light vanished she saw the self-satisfied smile of her tormentor before darkness descended upon her once more.

o+o+o

Naomi stared at the girl as she pulled herself up onto her elbows, she remembered clearly the long nights of cold and fear and desperation. She remembered the days and nights of hunger and misery, she remembered them all too well.

"One night," she said gruffly stepping away from the girl. "Stay on your own side of the fire and if you come near me in the night I'll kill you; or I'll have Dog tear out your throat." With her threat delivered she strode back to her tent, leaving the figure on the ground behind her; Dog bounding along beside her as her long, powerful legs covered the ground.

It felt good to be warm again, her foray into the darkness chilling her bones more than she liked to admit. She piled the scrubby branches onto the dying embers of her fire, blowing carefully until they caught light filling her makeshift camp with light and heat. Over the dancing flames she saw the bundled figure shuffle across the ground and flop, as if exhausted, on the other side of the fire. As she shuffled back into the shelter of her tent and her waiting sleeping bag, she watched as the girl turned fitfully towards the fire, stretching out her hands and feet towards the flames.

The silence of the night was disturbed only by the popping of the fire and the soft snoring of Dog next to her, that and two little words that drifted across the fire. Two, softly spoken little words that Naomi Campbell had to strain to hear, yet at the same time heard perfectly clearly. Two little words that she hadn't heard for many a long year; from the other side of the fire the girl that had intruded upon her solitude had said "Thank you."

o+o+o

The morning broke hard across the camp, even Dog spend no time outside the tent, Naomi venturing outside only for the necessities before retreating into shelter. The wind was gusting hard across the landscape blowing the black dust into a sandstorm. At first she thought the girl that had scared her in the night had already left with the dawn, or that she had been merely a nightmare. It wasn't until she saw the dust covered lump on the other side of the fire that she knew that neither was true.

"You, girl!" Naomi shouted over the sound of the wind that was whipping around the broken bones of the boat, "Why aren't you gone?"

There was no answer from the lump, no sign of movement either, no acknowledgement of her words. Naomi knew it would be harsh to send the girl out into this windstorm, but if she was annoyed that the girl hadn't left as promised, she was even more angry that she hadn't bothered to even respond to her shouts.

With an angry fire in her belly she walked over to the lump, pushing it with her foot and shouting at it to respond. To her shock and surprise it didn't, it made no attempt to move at all. Curious Naomi leant down and pulled back the rags from the face, revealing the pale skin once more. It was a pretty face, she thought absently as she looked down at her, but unnaturally thin. The girl did not look healthy and her bluish lips told a story of their own.

"Fucks sake," Naomi shouted to the skies as she regarded the limp body, "why fucking me?" Carefully she leaned right down and pressed her ear to the cold lips, surprised to feel and hear the faint glimmerings of life's sweet breath passing through them.

"Oh, you're not dead then," she said pressing her hand to the girls forehead. The girl seemed cold; dangerously so, despite the clothes she was wearing; but her forehead was burning to the touch. Covering the face with the rags once more she turned away to see Dog looking at her reproachfully from the comfort of her tent.

"What?" she asked the big hound who was lying with his head between his front paws. She was answered with a short bark before Dog stood, turned his back on her quite deliberately, and lay down again.

"All right, all right," she said reluctantly, "you win!" Naomi turned back to the prone figure and hooked her arms under her shoulders. She dragged the figure back to her tent and tucked her into her sleeping bag, fastening it closed carefully. Dog licked her cheek affectionately as she did so before flopping down, half next to, half on the girl; sharing his not inconsiderable body heat with her. Naomi reached into her pack and brought out her special water skin, pouring a little into the girls dry lips, it trickled down her chin as it spilt, but there was the unmistakable sign of movement in her throat as she swallowed some of it. It was a good sign, and Naomi poured a little more of the sugared water into her mouth before stoppering the skin and tucking it away.

Happy that the girl was still alive, if not well, Naomi turned her attention to their shelter; taking her shovel from her pack and unsheathing her machete before unleashing them on the bottom of the boat she was sheltering behind.

It took a little over an hour for Naomi to break through the hull of the boat, her machete and shovel more than a match for the wiry material that was neither wood nor cloth. A material that served no purpose, but seemed to have survived where other materials had long since rotted away. Carefully she poked around inside the craft until she had cleared a space in front of the opening that would serve as a refuge from the storm; if she was going to be stuck here for a while, she reasoned, she might as well be comfortable. Her new site chosen and laid out, she braved the wind and flying dust once more and collected armfuls of stones, placing them into a ring on the scrubbed ground outside the entrance where she wanted her fire to be. Finally happy with her work, she built up the earth behind her fireplace and pushed pieces of the shattered hull into it, creating a back to the fire that would reflect some of the heat back towards them. It wasn't perfect, but as fireplaces went it wasn't bad.

"Shut up," she said as Dog lay in the tent silently laughing at her labours, his tongue lolling out as he continued to warm the stranger. He made no response but to yip playfully at her before laying his head down once more.

It took Naomi three more trips into the bitingly cold gale to get more supplies of wood for her fire; half an hour of pain as the dust and dirt battered her body relentlessly despite her heavy clothing. Her hunters luck continued though, as she spotted a lone sheep cowering in the middle of some scrub brushes, it was dispatched quickly and she carried it over her shoulders back to her camp.

Three hours hard effort later it was done; Naomi had carefully stripped the wool from the sheep, stuffing it into a small sack to make a pillow. Gently she carried the girl, sleeping bag and all into the hull and laid her down near the entrance so she could benefit from the fire, but not be disturbed by the wind. She had stuffed the cracks in the shelter with anything she could find making it as cosy as she could before breaking down her tent and packing it away. She butchered the sheep, putting most of the meat on makeshift spits in front of the fire to cook, before chopping the rest up and placing it into her cooking pot with water and her meagre root pack to make a nourishing stew; one leg she gave to Dog who wagged his curled tail in appreciation as he tore into the raw meat.

The rest of the day passed in silence. Naomi sat near the entrance, reading her book once more, her fingers tracing the words that she had learnt almost by heart. A well fed Dog had resumed his post as warming blanket for the girl and the only disturbance was the howling of the wind outside as it intensified.

Such storms weren't uncommon in the area, Naomi had been told, the storms at sea whipping onto the coast with a vicious intensity. Since the 'Great Ending' the land had changed a lot, and storms everywhere were intensifying, each year becoming stronger and stronger; yet no-one really understood why.

It was almost dusk before the girl opened her eyes, Naomi being alerted to the fact by Dog standing and snuffling at her; she had been dripping her sugared water into the girls mouth all through the day, each time noticing that she was able to take in more and more. She'd hated playing nurse to a complete stranger, but her four legged conscience had got the better of her. Roused by her friends movement she put down her book and looked across at the girl.

"Where am I?" she croaked, her hoarse voice barely audible over the wind that battered their shelter.

"Safe, for now," Naomi replied simply scuttling across to her. The girl blinked slowly and then looked up in horror as Dog leaned down to snuffle at her.

"It's ok, he won't hurt you unless I tell him to," she said to the plainly terrified girl. "He's just checking to see if you're ok."

"You said he'd tear my throat out," she whispered, not taking her wide eyes off Dog.

"And he would, if I told him to," Naomi said firmly, not at all sure if that was the case actually. Her normally loyal friend had shown a strange liking for the creature that she had wasted a days travel over.

"I need to go," the girl said, "I promised to stay only the night, I didn't realise I was so tired. I'm sorry to have been a burden." The girl tried to sit up, resisting only when Dog put a paw on her chest.

"You should lie still," Naomi said, still curious at her friends behaviour. "I thought you were dead this morning, you've got a fever and you seem very weak. When was the last time you ate?"

"I don't know," the girl whispered her eyes closing slowly. "I think I ate some roots and some berries I found a couple of days ago."

"What kind of berries?" Naomi asked quickly.

"Sort of red and black ones, they didn't taste very nice so I spat most of them out."

"Thank fuck for that," Naomi muttered to herself, knowing that most of the berries that fruited at this time of year were harmful. "Did eating the berries make you sick?"

"Oh yes," the girls said weakly, nodding slightly. "But I've been sick for days now, before the berries in fact, that's why I approached your fire, I thought if I got warm things might get better."

"You're an idiot," Naomi said gruffly. "You don't eat berries at this time of the year, they'll kill you."

"Oh," said the girl, her eyes still closed. "I didn't know, I was hungry."

"Here, have some of this," Naomi said spooning some of the cooking broth from her stew into her eating bowl. The girls eyes opened slowly and looked at her.

"No, it's all right, I...I don't want to take your food, I promised I wouldn't be a burden."

She closed her eyes again and rested her head on the makeshift pillow. With a sigh Naomi blew carefully across the broth, before taking a sip to check the temperature. She placed it carefully on the ground next to the girl whose nose crinkled as the smell reached her. Shooing Dog out of the way, she dragged the girl into a sitting position, her body leaning against Naomi's and lifted the bowl to her lips.

"Just fucking drink it," Naomi said, probably more harshly that she'd planned. "You need to get your strength up, get this down you and then we'll see if you can manage something more substantial. Just don't drink it all in one go and make yourself sick."

"Thank you," the girl said softly, her voice trembling with the effort as she spoke. "You've been so kind already." She lifted shaking hands to the bowl and tipped it slightly, wincing as the hot fatty liquor passed her lips, "I don't deserve your kindness."

"It's nothing, Dog seems to like you and there's a windstorm that has hit so neither of us are going anywhere."

"He's lovely, and scary," she said opening her eyes to look at Dog who was sat watching them carefully, his tail wagging. "What is he, a wolf?"

"He's a dog," Naomi said scornfully, "an Alaskan Malamute I think. I saw a picture in a book once and it looked just like him when he was a pup."

"What's his name?" the girl asked suddenly swallowing a mouthful of the broth.

"Dog."

"You said he was a dog, I wondered what he was called."

"He's called _Dog_, that's his name," Naomi replied, wondering if the girl was a bit simple in the head.

There was no reply, Naomi craned her head to look down only to see the bowl was empty and the girl seemed to be asleep again. Carefully she lowered her down to the pillow and pulled back an eyelid to check she was ok like she had seen the healer do to her friend Anna back at her village. It was a rather nice eye Naomi decided watching the pupil move and nodding sagely. She had no idea what the movement meant, but it at least told her that the girl hadn't died. Carefully Naomi placed her hand on the girls forehead, it was still burning, but seemed cooler than last time.

She hoped that was a good thing.

Pulling the sleeping bag around the girls shoulders, tucking her arms back under its protective cocoon, Naomi watched as Dog settled down again placing his head on his paws and shuffling until he was comfortable. Naomi smiled and patted his head, tickling him behind his ears; "You big old softy," she told him, leaning down and pressing her face to his fur affectionately. Dog lifted his head and licked her face, as if to say _'yeah, you too' _before settling down again on his human mattress.

Pausing only to fill her cup with a generous portion of stew and grab her hand carved spork from her bag, Naomi Campbell resumed her position by the fire and began to read again.

o+o+o

The girl slept through the rest of the night, waking only once, muttering a name before collapsing again. Naomi spent an uncomfortable night in front of the fire, she didn't have a spare blanket and was forced to pull her coat around herself and build up the flames, forcing as much heat as she could into their makeshift shelter to stave off the cold. Finally she shuffled her way over to Dog and snuggled against him, tucking her freezing hands into his warm thick fur and gave way to sleep.

The wind was still howling when she woke up; she could see the dust and dirt swirling past outside obscuring everything. With a reluctant sigh she pulled on her mask and ventured outside, shovel in hand, looking for a sheltered place for her ablutions. When she got back there were two pairs of eyes staring at her as she stood in the entrance.

"Good morning, is it morning?" the girls asked still half buried under Dog's bulk.

"it is morning, but there's nothing fucking good about it," Naomi replied beating down her clothes before stepping into her shelter and removing her mask. "Fucking storm is still going, at this rate it'll be a week before it blows itself out. I hate fucking travelling in Winter." She settled herself down against the entrance and prepared to tend the fire.

"Why are you then, travelling in Winter I mean."

"None of your business," Naomi snapped prodding at the dying embers and stoking the fire back into life.

"Sorry," came the reply. "What's your name? Mine's Emily."

"Does it matter what my name is?" Naomi snapped, preferring the girl when she was unconscious, or asleep or otherwise silent. This was the best thing about travelling with Dog, she reflected as she leaned back against the entrance and closed her eyes; trying to get that extra hours sleep that feels so good after you wake up unexpectedly. The _very_ best thing about Dog was that most of the time he was a silent partner and that was how Naomi Campbell liked it, she rarely found the need to talk herself. Talk was cheap, and she'd had enough of talk in her village; the kind of talk that cut to your heart and hurt you.

"Not really, I just wanted to thank you properly and that would mean using your name."

"Do you ever shut up?" she snapped again, frustrated at the interruption to her attempt at sleep.

"Sorry," came the soft reply, a word that the girl, Emily, seemed fond of saying Naomi thought, and it was always said in that soft voice, on that seemed to slice neatly through her anger.

"Don't be sorry, just be quiet," Naomi said, pulling her trappers hat further down on her head until it blocked out the light from the dawn. "I didn't sleep very well last night and I'd like to get some more shut-eye whilst I can."

"Sorry," the girl whispered again and fell silent as Naomi hunkered down once more into the long woollen greatcoat that she had found on the corpse of a fellow traveller earlier in the Autumn. It was far too big for her, but she was able to take the clothes as well and after she had washed everything in a stream to get rid of the dead person smell she could finally layer herself up against the oncoming cold.

Her coat was her pride and joy, it came down to her knees and she might have had had to roll up the sleeves to make it fit better, but it was like her own personal bubble of warmth when she was walking; and the last person that had tried to steal it had ended up dead.

As she snuggled down into the warm wool, fixed with the lingering combined smell of her and Dog, she smiled at the whispered apology and decided to make a concession.

"Naomi," she said her lips hardly moving, "My name is Naomi."

"Naomi," the girl repeated, "that's a very pretty name."

Naomi just grunted in response.

"Thank you for letting me share your camp Naomi," the girl said, the tremor back in her voice as if the effort of speaking was too much; "and thank you for the food yesterday.. Thank you too Dog."

A pale trembling hand reached out to pat the outstretched paw of the huge dog who yipped like a puppy and licked the hand before it could be withdrawn.

The camp fell silent as both girls succumbed to exhausted sleep once more; each for different reasons. Dog's ears pricked up once at a faint sound from outside; carefully he stood and walked to the entrance, shying away from the fire despite his familiarity, and looked out into the landscape, sniffing as hard as he could. Satisfied that whatever he had heard was nothing dangerous, he snuffled at his mistresses neck for a second; ensuring she was ok. Again satisfied, he took a small drink of water from the bowl Naomi had put down for him in the corner of the hulk and stripped another piece of meat from the haunch of sheep that was his, swallowing it happily. Fed, watered and satisfied, Dog went to resume his previous position. As he did so, he sniffed carefully at the stranger in his Mistresses bed, before looking across at the sleeping Naomi.

Torn between love for his Mistress and the duty he felt to care for the stranger in the sleeping bag who's smell told him she was a friend in need, he stretched out on the floor; his hind quarters pressing against the girl, his forepaws pressing against the leg of his mistress; a friend whom he loved above all other things he had ever known, and had done so since she had found him starving, the runt of the litter, abandoned by his mother and siblings to his morbid fate.

Happy, and content, his tail softly wagging from side to side, Dog too fell asleep.

o+o+o

The storm raged about the makeshift camp for three more days and nights before blowing itself out. That meant three days of aching joints and three nights of shivering for Naomi Campbell. The girl that Naomi now knew was called Emily had barely moved during that time; she was better that was a fact, but she was still too weak and feverish to move, barely able to support herself to drink the broth that Naomi kept feeding her. Naomi found herself torn, she wanted to get moving again, winter was rapidly approaching and the storms would only get worse rather than better; but she felt a certain kind of responsibility for the sad eyed girl that had stolen her sleeping bag and seemingly her four legged friend.

She was so close to her destination now she could almost taste it and she balked at the hold up that she'd had already, let alone the extra time she would lose trying to get this girl to a position where she could fend for herself.

It hadn't been a totally wasted stop though, Naomi reflected, finding the sheep had given her some much needed supplies and her and dog had eaten well while they waited. The firewood had been plentiful as well, lots of scrubby brushes near the wreckage that burnt well, she'd even found some wood in the large hull that burnt well and slowly; keeping her fire going despite the conditions. Naomi had spent her waking hours resting, reading and scavenging through the boat for anything she could use, or trade. It had been stripped bare by other travellers, but on the third day, when she stripped back the wooden planks that she found there to burn on her fire, she had managed to find a ragged square of canvas that would serve as a blanket and hidden inside it a small locked box.

It was a curious object, it was made of m'al and had a hasp like the animal pens in her village, but instead of a strong wooden peg it had a curve of m'al that was bonded to a heavy m'al lump. It seemed impregnable, but the ages since the 'Great Ending' had weakened it and with three strong blows from the butt of Naomi's machete it fell open; spilling it's contents onto the floor by the entrance. She picked up the small pieces of paper that had fallen to the floor and held them up to the light; They were thin and purple they had tiny writing on them. 'Fifty Pounds' one of them read, it was something Naomi had never seen before.

"Money," a voice said from behind her, barely audible above the storm.

"What?" Naomi asked, not turning to look, still staring at the paper in wonderment wondering what it signified.

"It's called Money, it was how people paid for things in the days before the 'Great Ending', my Dad told me all about it."

"Your Dad was a storyteller?" Naomi asked, suddenly fascinated; turning to face the girl, here eyes alight.

"No," Emily croaked shaking her head slightly, trying in vain to lift herself up from the floor; Dog whined at her and stretching out a paw onto her chest holding her down.

"Where did your dad hear about it then?" Naomi asked, her curiosity overcoming her usual need for solitude.

"Dad liked books, he would collect them from the remains of the other buildings and clean them up; he even used to trade them to the carava…" Naomi looked on with interest, but her voice tailed off again as her eyes closed and she drifted away again.

Naomi looked at her sleeping figure disappointedly, annoyed at the sudden ending to what had promised to be an interesting conversation. A father that collected and traded books must be a rare and wonderful thing. She had been almost the only person in her entire village that had a book and she'd kept it hidden lest it be stolen. Only 'Old Caleem' the 'Keeper of the Laws' had books, he used them to mediate disputes and pronounce judgement in matters of complaint. Naomi had seen them when she had been taken into his hut to be told that her home had been given to another family and she must live in the communal house. They filled a shelf on his wall behind his table.

Naomi had read off the titles as she stood with the elders and the other family, she had been taught to read by her mother when she was young; to this day she hadn't understood how books like 'Alice in Wonderland', '1984' and a copy of 'The Myths and Legends of Great Britain' would help with his pronouncements, but back then she was too young and too scared to admit she could read, let alone say anything about it.

Naomi Campbell loved books with a passion, yet the thought of the girl having a father that had lots of books, so many he could afford to part with some of them, interested her for more reasons than just that.

o+o+o

"_Naomi, come here, there's someone I want you to meet!"_

_Naomi's Mothers voice drifted across the field to where she was playing with her friends. She got up from the ground and skipped happily across to where her Mother was waiting by their house. Her mouth dropped open in surprise as she saw the storyteller standing next to her Mother with his arm around her shoulder._

"_Naomi, this is Alun, he is a travelling storyteller, do you remember him from the last time he was here?"_

_Naomi nodded and made her courtesy as her mother had taught her. "Hello Miter Alun," she said politely. She remembered him all too well, she had been five when he had last visited the village and enthralled all the children with Faery tales. She loved his stories, but loved even more that he had singled her out and sat her on his lap and asked her if she would like him to tell a story, just for her. Shocked, she'd asked for her favourite and he'd told her the tale of two children who walked through he woods and came upon an edible house. When he had finished, to the applause of child and parent alike, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a strip of bright red ribbon which he threaded carefully into her hair, before leaning down and kissing her forehead softly._

_Naomi had never forgotten the moment, nor the storyteller, and as she greeted the man her mother called Alun her mind flitted back to her knitted bag lying on her sleeping pallet and the red ribbon within, kept safe these last four years._

"_Hello Naomi," he said kneeling down and placing his hand on her head, "well met we are on this beautiful day. How fare you?"_

"_I am well thank you Sir, how fare you?"_

"_I also am well Naomi, I have a request I must ask of you, would you share the rest of this day with me?"_

_Her eyes flicked to her Mother, who smiled and nodded. "It is ok Naomi dear, I have already told your father that you can spend the day with him while he is here."_

_Naomi's jaw dropped again at the revelation, her Mother had never told her about her father and yet here he was, a famous storyteller; one of the famous travellers who walked the wastelands alone, earning food only by telling their stories._

"_Yes Naomi," her Mother had continued, "Alun is your father, now greet him properly, there's a good girl."_

_Barely were the words out of her mouth before Alun had swept Naomi up into a bear hug and kissed her soundly. Her father had kissed her, twice and the nine year old Naomi Campbell was happy, her life was complete._

_Over the next few days she spent many hours with her father, listening to his tales of the places he had been and the stories he had told. She was fascinated by it all, but most of all she was intrigued to hear about the places beyond their own small village, places with strange names like Oxenford, Swineton and Stol. Naomi was fascinated by Stol, because it was the place her father called home._

"_One day my girl," Alun said to her as he packed his bag to leave on his 'tour' once more, "I will come back and I will take you and your Mother back to my home, and we will live together there just the three of us. Would you like that?"_

_She had nodded eagerly as he swept his travelling coat around him and leant down to kiss her once more. "I will miss you little one, but I will see you sooner than you think. I've left you a present on your bed, something to remember me by."_

_She cried as he kissed her Mother goodbye and set off down the road; he paused as he crested the hill that marked the boundary of where they lived. He was silhouetted for a second as he turned and waved before vanishing out of her life forever. Blissfully unaware of what the future would bring, the nine year old Naomi ran excitedly back to her home, grabbing the cloth wrapped present tied with another red ribbon. Pausing only for a calming breath, she sat on her pallet and tore off the wrapping to reveal a book, and it was like that her Mother found her perhaps hours later staring at the pages in awe._

"_You cannot tell anyone that Alun gave you that Naomi," Her Mother said earnestly. "That is a rare gift for people like us, keep it hidden, it is a precious thing."_

_Naomi nodded carefully and placed the red ribbon into the book to mark her page and carefully wrapped her book in the cloth. "I'll protect it with my life Mama," she said earnestly._

"_I don't think you'll have to go that far darling," her Mother had said smiling and pulling her into a hug._

_Her mother never knew how wrong she would be._

o+o+o

Naomi sat in the entrance to their shelter smiling to herself as Dog snored, flopped against the daughter of the bookseller he was guarding with his warmth. Her little lamp flickered slightly as the charge from the solar panel ran down, and reluctantly she tucked the faded red ribbon in between the pages and closed her book, wrapping it up safely and putting it away in her bag. She carefully prepared the camp for the night and looked out into the darkness. Somewhere out there was Stol, somewhere out there was her father, and one day soon she would find it and find him, and hold him to account for his betrayal.

Naomi had believed in things before, but she wouldn't do that ever again. She'd believed her father when he said he would return and take her away from the village; she'd longed for it every single day after her Mother had died, died from the pregnancy that had been caused by his last visit.

As Naomi settled down next to Dog, lying parallel to Emily so she could share her friends warmth, she dreamed of finding Alun of Stol and making him pay.

"Justice," she muttered to herself as she plunged into the darkness that was sleep; "vengeance."

Dogs ears flicked at her words and her tone; they were words that he had heard before and they worried him every time he heard them. He feared for his mistress in a manner that only a lifelong companion could. He worried for the day when she would use those words when she was awake; he had listened to the many times she had ranted to him using those words as they walked across the endless, ruined landscape. He didn't know what she meant of course, his canine brain unable to make out anything but the way the word sounded, and how it was spoken; but he recognised the anger and hatred whenever she used those words and it concerned him to the depths of his doggy heart.

Dog knew both sides of his mistress; the loving wonderful person that played with him in the sun, that threw sticks for him to fetch in the rain and held him close in the cold and the dark, sharing her heat with him as generously as he did with her. But he also knew her dark side, the moody, merciless mistress she could become when angered or offended.

'_Yes'_, Dog thought to himself in his own unique way as he cocked his hind leg to carefully scratch an itch, anxious not to disturb either of his charges. _'Yes, I know my mistress, I know her well; and I'll protect her come what may.'_

His vow renewed, Dog twisted round to snuffle at his mistress, knowing instinctively that the touch of his wet nose on her cheek and his warm breath on her face would comfort her as she slept. He waited patiently as her breath calmed and her muttering ceased and then laid his head on the shoulder of the arm that reached out to hug him and slept contentedly, the blissful sleep of the loyal and true at heart.

o+o+o

It was five days since the girl had arrived before she was able to sit by herself and eat real food, tucking into strips of meat from a rabbit Naomi had trapped using a snare. She had woken properly on the fourth day, after the storm had ceased its raging and Naomi was able to venture out to restock their supplies. She had lay on the pallet watching as Naomi moved about in the innards of the boat digging through the wreckage for anything that she could use, or she could sell.

It was a fruitless search, the wreckage had been well and truly stripped, only the small box that she had found buried in the darkness had contained anything of any value, and she was a hundred years too late to use that. She had tucked it into a dry pouch in her pack nonetheless, she might be able to trade it for something she reasoned, if not it would be useful for helping start the fires on her journey.

"Naomi?" the girl had called that afternoon as she lay, spooning warmed stew into her mouth hungrily. "What's that on the floor by the fire?"

Naomi looked up from where she was sewing up the canvas that she had found to see what the girl was on about. _'She must have sharp eyes'_ Naomi thought as she scanned the dirt, _'because I can't see anything,_'

"What?" she asked finally admitting defeat.

"Just in front of your foot, the shiny thing."

Naomi put down her sewing and leaned forward, sure enough in the dirt, slightly obscured by her boot, was a thumb sized piece of glass, red in colour and carefully cut. It was attached to a thin band of what looked like gold; as Naomi held it between her thumb and forefinger it glittered prettily in the light.

"There's something else there," Emily said, "That's not what I can see."

Naomi put the object into a pocket and leaned down, carefully examining the floor.

"..left a bit, there, just there." Emily directed, there was a hint of eagerness in her voice; now the fever had passed, broken in the night with the last of the storm, she was sounding more human, more willing to talk. Right now she sounded for all the world like a child playing a game of hide, calling 'cold' and 'warm' to give clues to the prize.

Carefully Naomi ran her hand through the dust and then she saw it, sparking softly in the light of the fire. She had never seen anything like it in her life, a piece of clear glass that reflected the light into a hundred different colours; no wonder the girl had sounded so eager to see it.

"May I?" Emily asked as Naomi sat and stared deep into the clear glass holding it up by the gold coloured chain it was looped through. Reluctantly Naomi handed it over, and watched as the girl dangled it in front of her eyes, staring through it to the fire beyond.

"It's beautiful," she said, "like the colours of the sky are trapped within it."

"I saw the sky look like that once," Naomi said. "I was sheltering from the rain last Summer and I saw a loop of colour in the sky that looked just like that."

"A rainbow," Emily said, lowering her arm and looking across at Naomi. "My Mum use to call them rainbows. Katie used to say that there was gold buried at the end of them by the Faery's, I always wanted to go and search for it, but she would never let me."

Emily handed the object and it's chain back to Naomi and picked up her hastily carved bowl of food and spork, spearing a piece of meat with the prongs before scooping some broth to go with it from the tiny bowl, Naomi had reclaimed her own utensils as soon as she had finished whittling the rough replacements for the girl to use. Naomi had been shocked to discover that the girl was travelling with little more than the clothes on her back, no wonder she had been near death when she approached her camp; she was ill equipped to survive in the Summer, let alone survive the onset of Winter in the Barrens of Alba.

"Is Katie your mother?" she asked almost despite herself as she resumed her careful stitching.

"No," Emily replied between mouthfuls, "Katie's my sister, we're twins."

"Twins?" Naomi asked, saying the unfamiliar word carefully. "What is twins?"

"I am, we are," Emily said cryptically. "my sister and I, we look alike, we're called twins."

"You and your sister look the same? You are 'a'likes'" Naomi asked shocked, not even noticing that she had jabbed her bodkin deep into the palm of her hand.

"No, we look alike, but we're not exactly the same." Emily put the bowl to her lips and drank the dregs of her meal happily.

"Such a thing would not have been allowed in my village," Naomi said, licking the blood from her palm. "There was a woman who gave birth to 'a'likes' when I was a child, the elders drowned the babies at birth saying they were cursed, and she was burnt for being a witch and consorting with the Devil himself."

"Well my mother may well be a fucking witch," Emily said yawning, lying back and stroking Dog who was crunching on the carcass of a rabbit nosily. "But my father is definitely not the Devil and the only curse I have is having a mother and a sister that hate me."

Naomi raised an eyebrow but didn't comment, she knew all about being hated and she doubted if the girl knew much about it. No matter how much she may think that her mother and sister might hate her, she doubted that she would really understand what it meant to be despised, to be spat upon as you went about the menial chores, to have animal dung rubbed into your face for the amusement of others, or to find that what little food you got had been despoiled in a hundred different ways.

She doubted that she understood it at all.

It was later that night, when they were sat watching the fire, that Emily crossed the line that Dog had feared she would. She had been asleep for a while and Naomi had continued with her camp chores in silence, heading out to collect more water from the weed choked stream she had found. When she had woken Naomi had been sat reading and Emily's weak voice broke the silence.

"You can read?" she said, the disbelief clear and Dog looked up anxiously as he heard the intake of breath from his annoyed mistress..

"Yes I can read," Naomi spat automatically, "I can read and I can cook and I can sew and I can hunt and I can kill. I can do many things, including knowing not to eat berries in the Wintertime and nearly killing myself."

She was angry, one thing about the new Naomi Campbell, the Naomi Campbell of the road, was that she was quick to anger. All the years of hidden frustration were now free to vent themselves on others; and she had vowed on the day that she had fled her village that no-one would be allowed to mistreat her again. Dog's ears pricked up at her tone and he began to whine plaintively, pawing at the ground and pushing his head and shoulder against his mistress. Deep in his heart he knew that these two had a destiny together and his mind was filled with fear at the thought of them fighting like this, filled with the fear that Naomi might kill again.

o+o+o

It had been a spring day in her seventeenth year that Naomi found Dog; she had taken the bow that she had been given by the Smith and, her work complete for the day, she had gone off into the woods to hunt for food. She had practically fallen over the tiny ball of fur as she went to pick up the crow that she had killed, her aim with the bow now better than anyone else in the village. She had learned how to hunt quickly, hunger did that to you; the food that was left out for her in the communal hut usually stolen, or spoilt with human waste.

Naomi had looked down at the tiny figure, its fur matted and dirty it's ribs showing through it's flesh. It was starving and quite near death, she thought, and she pulled out her knife to end its pain. As she grabbed it by the scruff of the neck, however, her heart had melted as she looked into its eyes; eyes that were so sad and yet so full of spirit. Reaching into her bag she pulled out her water skin, pouring some of the warm liquid into her cupped hand. The runt lapped at it eagerly, its rough tongue scraping against her calloused palm and Naomi kept pouring until it would drink no more.

"Where's your Mother dog?" Naomi asked, picking him up and cradling him protectively in her arms, "Are you an orphan too?"

The dog said nothing but he blinked at her, pawing gently at her chest as she held him.

"Don't worry my little friend," she said tenderly, carrying him across to the body of the crow, pulling her arrow from its corpse and tucking it into her kill net with the rest of her trophies, "we'll both eat well tonight."

She carried the dog to her secret campsite in the depths of the forest where only the bravest from her village would go. She had built herself a small fireplace and a shelter from some bent saplings and a fallen log. She would stay there often when the weather was good, eating her fill of the game she caught, returning to the village every morning to complete her work for the day. No-one noticed that she was gone on those days; and if they did, they didn't care. Naomi was virtually invisible as far as the villagers were concerned, unless they needed someone to torment or blame.

Placing the dog carefully into her bower, Naomi went to cut some wood for her fire using the long machete that the smith had made her from the stack of metal bars she had found underneath a rusting car she had discovered, overgrown in the woods, on one of her hunts. He'd hammered the strong metal into a bar with a wicked curved blade about the length of his arm before binding the handle with wire and rope. He had patiently ground both sides giving her razor sharp edges on both the inside and outside of the blade. Naomi kept the blades keen at all times, her weapon had served her well for cutting wood, and other things as well.

It didn't take Naomi long to stack her fire, and before night had fallen she had the contents of her kill net on spits over the fire, her short gutting knife neatly divesting the meat from the bone. The dog had indeed eaten well that night, Naomi had discovered that he was too weak to stand and had fed him carefully by hand the strips of meat from her catches. She had barely eaten herself that day, and yet she gave her food to him gladly; sensing the brotherhood they shared, orphaned, abandoned and left to fend for themselves. Only the Smith had given her anything, given her the tools and knowledge to survive; the Gods had smiled down on her on that day when he saw her with her rustic bow and took pity one her; and Naomi was determined to pay them back for her life.

The dog finally seemed content, curling up on Naomi's lap after he had eaten his fill and fallen asleep, a tiny ball of fur with paws that were too big for his tiny body as she stroked his head gently Naomi Campbell fell head over heels in love with him and knew somewhere in her soul that they were meant to be.

She had carried him back to her village in her pack the next morning, as she woke before dawn to return to the stables where she lived. She spent the morning mucking out the horses and then, after sneaking some food from her meal to sustain herself and the dog, she had resumed her other chores; starting by digging a grain pit on the outskirts of town. It had been just bad luck that Jam Co'ok and his gang had appeared to torment her that day, bad luck that he thought it funny to put his hand into her bag to scatter her possessions around; a game he seemed to find, with his limited brain, endlessly amusing. It was just bad luck that he grabbed the pup just a little too hard and received a sharp nip from his teeth in reply.

He withdrew his arm from the bag screaming, looking at the teeth marks in horror, blanching at the pinpricks of blood that appeared. "See," he said showing his friends his wound, "see what the witch has done?"

Jam upended the bag , sending the dog spilling onto the ground, as Naomi climbed out of the pit the pup tried to get to its feet, but collapsed and lay planting on the floor, still too weak to do so.

"A wolf," Jam said drawing his knife, prompting Naomi to put her hand on her own machete. "Crapbell has brought a wolf into our home, we must kill it and bring her before the elders for punishment."

He took a step towards the cowering puppy, his blade pointing at the tiny creature, before being brought up short by a voice he had never heard before.

"Put your knife away Jam Co'ok or I will take it, and your hand, from you! The dog is _mine_ and you will not harm him."

Her voice was low and hard, Jam turned to sneer at the girl he had hated since she had embarrassed him, and saw her glaring at him, standing straight and proud, Jam looked at her with a sudden sense of fear. This wasn't the broken starving girl that he enjoyed torturing for her misfortune, this was someone else; and the way she held her long and wicked looking blade was true and steady.

"You should not take that from the likes of her Jam," one of his friends said from behind him. "Kill the wolf and bring her before our fathers for judgement, perhaps they will burn her as a witch, if shit burns that is."

The gang laughed at his words and Jam found himself in a tricky position, he had placed himself in the vanguard of their hatred and now he had to act and call Crapbell's bluff, or back down and lose his status as their leader forever.

In the end it was his fear of ridicule that forced his hand;Jam was a true bully at heart, a coward that used his father's status to lord over others. Taking a breath he hefted his heavy knife in his hand and stepped towards the puppy, eyes blazing. What happened next shocked everyone; with a whistle that cut through the air like a scream, Naomi brought down her blade onto the outstretched arm, severing it at the wrist. Jam's scream was almost lost in the cries from his friends, the horror written all over their faces at the act. As they grabbed the boy and sprinted back to the village, Naomi quickly gathered her things and put them back into her bag, the dog included. For the first time in her short life she was thankful of the fact that she had so little, and that everything of value she did have, she always carried with her. As she collected her bow and quiver, from where she had leant them, she knew that she had to leave; there would be no mercy for someone that hurt the Chief Elders firstborn son as she had, no matter how provoked. She would be burnt, or worse, for her crime as an example to others and she knew it. Pausing only to impale the still twitching hand onto the end of a nearby fencepost, as a grisly warning, she pocketed the knife that had caused all the problems, took one last look at the place she once called home and headed deep into the woods; a mutter of apology to her Mother's spirit on her lips.

They followed her, of course they did, the men folk of the village being called together to give chase. Naomi led them a merry dance through the forest that had been her real home since her Mother had died; and soon, one by one, they fell behind her. Only one person came close to catching her, only one person came close enough to startle her; as she broke through into a clearing she saw a figure running parallel to her and she stopped and drew her long blade to defend herself.

"Foreshame Naomi," the figure said, breathing heavily and stepping into the clearing. "I did not make that for you to threaten me with, sheath your blade I mean you no harm, I am not here to take you back."

Naomi eyed the Smith suspiciously before sliding her machete back into its holder, eyeing him warily.

"You must leave and never come back little one," he said quietly, his eyes never leaving hers. "You know this don't you? There will be no forgiveness for what you have done this day."

Naomi nodded soberly, the Smith frowned for a second at her lack of words then spoke again. "Then I think you will need things for the road," he said throwing a large, finely stitched bag to the floor in front of her. "It isn't much but it will keep you warm and fed and perhaps give you something to trade along the way. Where will you go?"

"West," she said finally, her direction decided the second she had set foot on this journey. "I will go westwards to seek my father."

"Then I will lead them in this direction," he said pointing towards the North. "I will tell them that you have gone this way. Go quickly now my child, may the Gods keep you safe."

Naomi picked up the second, larger bag and put it across her shoulders, careful not to dislodge her own and startle the dog any more than he already was. "Thank you," she said as she heard voices behind her. "May the Gods protect you as well."

As she ran off into the woods she had one last idea, doubling back north she paused at the far edge of another clearing, quickly adjusting her packs, putting her own inside the Smiths present for speed. Readied for action she placed the tip of one of her special hunting arrows, one with a wicked barbed head, into a pile of animal dung, twisting it carefully until it was well and truly covered. It wasn't long before she heard the sound of voices, as the Smith unknowingly led her quarry towards her she notched her arrow to her bow and waited.

Minutes passed until the party broke into the clearing, and Naomi saw what she had been waiting for. Chief Elder Co'ok stood on the edge of the woods gesturing to the men, insisting they find 'the witch' and bring her to face his justice. Swiftly Naomi drew her bow and let fly. She could pick a bird out of a tree with her bow and this shot was simple, watching in satisfaction as the arrow plunged deep into the Elders stomach. As he fell with a scream the men folk gathered around him eyes scanning the edges of the clearing in fear and panic at their unseen attacker. Before Chief Elder Co'ok had hit the ground Naomi had already slung the bow over her shoulder and prepared to slip away, heading back West, back on her original plan.

As she made to leave Naomi took one last look back at the figure that writhed and screamed in agony on the grassy floor. She allowed herself a smile, knowing that he was as good as dead. Before she could go, however, she caught the eyes of the Smith scanning the edges of the clearing. As their eyes met, she noticed he looked sad, disappointed even. She held that look for just a second before she blinked and was gone.

The men folk of the village carried their Chief back to his home, the arrow still protruding from his belly. The healer, already tired from treating the Chief's son, carefully removed the barbed head and sniffed at it curiously. His nose wrinkled as he smelt the shit that coated it, and he packed the wound with herbs before sealing it with a poultice that his mother had taught him was good for withdrawing poison from wounds. It was a cruel act, he thought as he threw the arrow into the fire; and he knew in his heart that it had been a deliberate one. The men folk had told of a poorly aimed arrow, one that was intended for the heart but fell short. One sniff of the wound had told him that this wasn't true, that the girl, that he himself had brought into the world with his own hands seventeen summers before, had intended nothing less than that their Chief would die in agony.

She never knew it, but Naomi got her wish two weeks later, Elder Chief Co'ok died screaming in pain, his hands tearing at the infection that had spread through his body. Jam Lackhand, as he was now known, was allowed to bury his father with pride and dignity before being cast out from his home; the Elders Council decreeing that a cripple could not act on the village council. He spent the rest of his days begging on the streets, a shadow of his former self; before dying alone and unloved, freezing to death in the stables in his first cold winter.

o+o+o

"I didn't mean to offend you," Emily said quietly, lowering her gaze to the floor slowly. "It's just, well, I _can't_ read; almost no-one where I live can read."

"But you said your father collected books," Naomi said, her breathing returning to normal, her anger dissipating as quickly as it had arose; "how can you not read?"

"Dad never taught me," she replied quietly, "He taught Katie, but I was the youngest until my brother came along. He said it wasn't my place to learn."

Naomi nodded, the peculiar nuances to do with the hierarchy of their society well known to her. "Who taught you to read?" Emily asked, hoping that the anger of the stranger had abated.

"My Mother," Naomi replied casually, "she taught me in secret when I was very young. She taught me my letters by the fire when I was just a little girl, and I picked things up from there. My father gave me this book when I was nine and I learned to read it with her until she died."

"I wish I could read," Emily said sadly, "it must be a very fine thing to be able to do."

"It is," Naomi said confidently, though she wasn't the worlds finest reader she could more than get by. "it gives me pleasure to read."

"Would you teach me to read?"

"I think there are many things you need to learn before reading," Naomi said, perhaps a touch more harshly than she intended, the remnants of her offence still bubbling below the surface.

"Will you teach me them?"

"I don't think I'll have time, as soon as you're well enough to look after yourself I have to go on. Winter is approaching and I need to find a proper shelter for Dog and I, I'd advise you to do the same."

"Can't I come with _you_?" Emily asked, trying to sit up, "That way you could teach me?"

"Me and Dog travel alone," Naomi replied firmly. "that's just how it is, I'm sorry."

"So am I," Emily said softly. "so am I."

o+o+o

Two days after Emily was able to get up and about, Naomi decided it was time to move on, she was too near to the coastline for her liking and she wanted to move inland before the storms of winter would strike with a vengeance. Carefully she packed her travelling kit into her bag, making it fit into the smallest space possible and readied herself to leave.

"This is for you," she said holding out the rough knapsack she'd sewn from the canvas she'd used as a blanket. "I've put a few things in it for you to help you on your journey, may the Gods go with you."

"You're going to leave me then," Emily said watching as Naomi pulled her pack onto her back and picked up her bow.

"I have to move on," she replied, "I've tarried too long as it is, a week I've wasted here I need to be on the road again."

"And you won't change your mind and let me travel with you?"

"I travel alone," she said, digging her toe into the ground as she spoke, not able to meet the girls eyes.

"Well this is goodbye then," Emily said standing and throwing her arms around Naomi's shoulders. "Thank you for everything, thank you for saving my life."

"It was nothing," Naomi said, embarrassed at the affection.

"…and thank you too Dog," she said kneeling down and burying her face into the scruff of his neck; "I'll miss you too."

"Come on Dog," Naomi called as she pulled her mask over her face and walked out of her shelter without looking back. She hadn't gone three steps before she heard a howl from behind her, Dog was expressing as emphatically as he could his displeasure at the turn of events.

"Come _on_ Dog," Naomi insisted slapping her leg to call him to heel. Obediently Dog came over to her and sat, whining and looking back at Emily who stood in the entrance to their shelter.

"Go on Dog, go with Naomi," she said ushering him away; Dog merely barked in reply before looking at Naomi and howling again, pawing at her insistently. Naomi ignored him and went to walk away again only to find her walking impeded when Dog caught her sleeve gently in his teeth.

"What the fuck boy?" she said kneeling down and pulling her mask from her face. "What's the matter?"

Dog whined and ran back to Emily, pawing at her and wagging his tail before running back to Naomi and pulling at her sleeve.

Naomi sighed, resigned to the fact that Dog was going to be difficult. "You want her to come with us boy?" she said softly. Dog barked happily in agreement and ran back to Emily, tugging on _her_ sleeve and pulling her outside with him.

"It seems Dog wants you to come with us," Naomi said, not pleased at her companions obstinacy. "I hope you can keep up."

"I'll do my best," Emily said with a smile, grabbing her new bag and pulling it onto her back; pulling up the cloth that covered her nose and mouth and heading outside to follow Naomi. "I'm ready," she said eagerly.

"First lesson," Naomi said snorting at her. "Never leave a fire burning when you leave."

Quickly she spread out the embers with her foot and kicked dirt over the fireplace, spreading the stones, and the back plate, with the toe of her boot. Satisfied that the traces of their camp had been obliterated she turned to face the small girl and the large dog.

"Right then, lesson number two; keep up or get left behind."

o+o+o

Naomi kept their pace gentle, despite her words. She knew Emily was still weak from her fever, the poisoning still affecting her so she didn't want to push her; but in spite of herself she admired the girls pluck. She carried her bag and kept with the pace as best she could, without complaint; only asking for a brief rest every couple of hours of walking.

She was, however sorely under equipped for travelling and that piqued Naomi's curiosity as they walked.

"Where's all your stuff?" she asked shortly, "Were you robbed or something?"

"How do you mean?" came the muffled reply.

"Your bag, with all your stuff? When I found you, you didn't have anything but the things that you're wearing."

"Oh," Emily replied stepping up a pace to walk at Naomi's shoulder, Dog loping around them playfully. "I don't have anything like that."

"You don't have a travelling pack?" Naomi asked incredulously, "Are you mad?"

"I do now," Emily said and Naomi could imagine her smiling under the bulky clothes as she hitched her hand sewn satchel on her shoulder.

"No I mean a proper kit, not just some eating stuff. Where are your blankets, your sleeping bag? Fucks sake you don't even have a breathing mask to protect you from this dust."

"Like I say," the girl replied her voice now sad, "I don't have anything like that. I didn't have the chance to take anything when I left, I was in kind of a hurry."

"Running away?" Naomi asked, thinking of her own learning curve after she fled from her home.

"Escaping," Emily replied flatly, her voice almost breaking at the word.

"Oh," Naomi replied dropping the subject, "well we'll need to find you some kit from somewhere, keep your eyes open."

"For what?" Emily asked sounding confused.

"Trader caravans, wreckage, bodies, anything really; anything where we can buy, scavenge or steal stuff from."

"Caravans!" Emily said pulling up short and staring at Naomi her eyes wild.

"Yeah, is that a problem?"

"Maybe," Emily replied her shoulders sagging. "It was a caravan that I escaped from."

"You worked on a caravan train?"

"No, I was sold to a caravan train, I was a slave."

Naomi looked down at the smaller girl and squinted her eyes, "Are you marked?" she asked quickly. Slaves were often tattooed or branded by their owners, identifying their status instantly. Naomi had met runaways before, often they had burnt themselves to hide the marks, often that gave them away more than anything else. It was dangerous to consort with a runaway, the owners would often capture the slave and kill the people that hid them by way of an example. To Naomi's relief the shorter girl shook her head.

"Only with this," she said pulling down her clothes to reveal a thin metal band that had been roughly welded around her neck. The symbol that named her owner stamped into it crudely. Naomi narrowed her eyes and stared at it.

"That will have to go," she said after a moments thought, "I'd try trading it, but that could be dangerous, unless..."

"Unless what?" Emily asked nervously.

"Well, I could pretend you're _my_ slave; but if someone recognises the mark then we'd be in trouble. It's too clean to be traded as something we've found, but then I can fix that. Let me take a look at it when we set up camp for the night."

Naomi looked up at the sky, estimating the time from the position of the sun. I think we can safely get a few more miles in before nightfall. How are you bearing up."

"I'll be ok," Emily replied, "will we be able to eat tonight?"

Naomi nodded, she still had some meat wrapped carefully in her pack but knew that with the extra mouth to feed it wouldn't last long. As she prepared to set off once more she pulled her bow from its straps on the side of her pack and strung it, testing the tension with a finger.

"Will you teach me how to use that?" Emily asked looking on as Naomi slung her quiver belt around her waist and loosened an arrow. "I'll need to learn in order to hunt."

"I think you'd be best learning how to do the simple things first," Naomi said quickly. "Like building a fire and setting up a camp."

"What about food?"

"I'll show you how to make snares and traps, that should get you by for now." She replied ending the conversation by setting off towards the setting sun once more; after a few seconds of staring at Naomi's back, Emily set off after her.

They set up camp for the night in a cluster of rocks, it wasn't as comfortable as their previous camp but it was better than sleeping out in the open, the weather being fickle at this time of year. Naomi set off with her bow, looking for something to kill for supper sending Emily and Dog to collect wood and grass for the fire. When she returned, with only a small rock vole for her troubles Emily had a pile of scrubby bush and a few small branches piled up next to their packs; it wasn't ideal but it would see them through the night. Naomi showed the enthusiastic, but tiring, Emily how to set up the fire for best effect; placing it, not out in the open, but in front of one of the rocks, explaining patiently that it would help to keep them warmer.

"Like the boards you had back at our last camp?" Emily asked.

"Precisely," Naomi replied pleased, the girl had a quick mind and that was a good thing out here; if she learned quickly, she might just survive.

"Do we light this now?" Emily asked as she carefully stacked up wood as per Naomi's instructions; it was still light, the sun having not set behind the horizon yet. She looked up to see Naomi pushing two sticks into the ground, lining them up with something carefully.

"What are you doing?" She asked, her previous question forgotten already. She had seen sticks like this outside their previous camp and she had wondered then what they were, she had forgotten all about them; but as she watched Naomi strain against the hard ground the memory of them came flooding back.

"What?" Naomi shouted hitting the longer of the two sticks with a rock forcing it into the hard ground.

"What are you doing? What are those sticks for?"

"Oh, come here and I'll show you," Naomi said, giving the stick an almighty wallop driving it another inch into the ground. Kneel down there and line up the sticks and tell me what you see."

She pointed to a flat rock about a meter in front of the shorter of the two sticks and began packing dirt around the base of her stick with her foot. Curiously Emily made her way over to the rock and knelt, looking out in front of her at the sticks, shuffling until they lined up perfectly.

"I don't see anything but a hill in the distance," she said, squinting her eyes.

"What else?"

"I can't tell, I'm being dazzled by the sun."

"Exactly," Naomi said triumphantly as if Emily had just answered with something profound. "That's exactly right. I'm travelling west, so I line these three points up at night on the setting sun. Then, in the morning, I can pick something on the horizon to aim for and walk towards it for the rest of the day. If you do that every night, you can't go wrong; well not much," she clarified remembering how difficult it had been when she was walking through the heavily forested areas during the summer.

"Doesn't sound very accurate," Emily said critically, though she was impressed by the simplicity of the idea. "Don't you have a compass?"

"A what?" Naomi asked looking over curiously.

"A compass, you know something that points North all the time."

Naomi nodded, "Ah, a direction finder…no, I haven't got one of those, couldn't afford one even if I could find someone that was willing to trade one with me." She looked up as the Sun slipped behind the distant hill, filling the sky with a deep orange glow. "Come on, we'd better find some bits to put into the stew before it gets dark.

Naomi showed Emily how to pick leaves that would add to the stew and how to find bugs and worms under rocks. Emily balked a little as Naomi picked up a huge beetle and threw it into her pot but reasoned that any food was good food. She'd barely eaten a thing on her run from her captor and she wasn't so proud as to turn down anything that was offered. _'Besides'_, she thought, _'I have no idea what Naomi fed me while I was sick, and that tasted all right.'_

They scraped around in the rocks for another half an hour, hunting down things to go into the pot. They even managed to startle a covey of birds, Dog chasing one down as they fled his powerful jaws clamping down on it as Naomi shot another out of the sky.

"Looks like we'll be eating better than I thought," she said pulling her arrow out of the fallen bird and patting Dog on the head as he dropped his catch at her feet. "Thank you Dog," she told him appreciatively picking it up; pulling her camp knife she cut off the head and wings and plucked the tail feathers before dropping the rest of the body in front of him. "That one's yours boy, enjoy."

Dog barked and picked up the bird, shaking it enthusiastically , blood and feathers going everywhere. With a laugh Naomi put her own kill into the pot and it was with a spring in their step the girls retired to their camp.

o+o+o

"Come on, quickly, blow on it," Naomi said, "harder, you can blow harder than that it won't go out."

"But that's what happened last time," Emily said as she pressed her head to the ground next to the fire blowing as hard as her tired body would allow; obediently the flames leapt at her breath and the wood above the kindling began to catch.

"You blew it out last time, Emily, because you blew too hard, too soon; it was only the tinder that was burning and not the wood. Once the kindling catches properly you can blow a bit harder to encourage it to burn, then you give it a bit more to help it catch light to the rest of the wood. Once those bigger branches are going you can start building the fire properly. Making a fire is just a sequence of steps to follow. It's actually very simple, you'll get the hang of it."

"I still don't get what you did with that stick, when father used to light the fire at home he had a piece of metal what he used to hit with a rock."

"A piece of what?" Naomi asked as Emily continued to blow at the base of the fire, encouraging the flames higher.

"Metal, you know; like this." She pulled at the band around her neck reminding Naomi that they needed to remove it.

"Oh, you mean _m'al,_ right!" Naomi said wondering at the curious sound of the word.

"Mal?" Emily repeated looking up from her job as fire builder.

"M'al," Naomi corrected.

"M'al," Emily said pronouncing it carefully before laughing. "Funny isn't it? How we have different words for the same thing."

"Yeah," Naomi said. "But I came from a small village not a town, we were a bit isolated."

Emily had told Naomi as they travelled about the town where she came from, how her father had a shop on the outskirts as a general merchant. Naomi had been fascinated by the idea of the bustle and community and the sheer number of people.

"How small was your village Naomi," Emily asked, sitting back and admiring her handiwork, the flames of the fire licking higher as the wood caught properly.

"I could throw a stick from one side to another," Naomi replied, exaggerating only a little. There were lots of families though, about fifty or a hundred people I suppose," she said picking numbers she had read, but didn't really understand, out of thin air.

"Which was it, fifty or a hundred?" Emily asked looking at her with a funny look on her face.

"Does it matter?" Naomi asked defensively.

"Well one hundred is twice as many as fifty Naomi, so it sort of makes a difference."

Naomi blushed and hoped that the darkness and the firelight hid it from her companion. She made a fuss of Dog as he rolled on his back in front of her, showing his belly to the warmth of the fire.

"I didn't know that," she admitted finally. "I can't count much past twenty and that was because that was the number of goats I had to look after. If I got that wrong the goatherd would beat me so I learnt to count to twenty really well."

"My Dad taught me my numbers so I could help him in the shop. Katie, my sister, she was the eldest so she spent her time at home learning to be the perfect wife. Cooking and sewing and all that, Mum said I had to earn my food, especially after my brother came along."

"What was your brothers name?" Naomi asked, thinking of her own baby brother, born already dead and taking her mothers life along with him.

"Do you know I have no idea? It wasn't long after we celebrated his birth that my parents sold me to the caravan, I never got to meet him really."

"What happened, or don't you want to talk about it?"

"No it's fine," Emily said sadly; "it all happened three days after my brother was born."

o+o+o

Summer was almost over when Emily's mother gave birth to her third child, Emily smiled proudly for her father when the Doctor stepped from the bedroom to announce that her mother had delivered a healthy baby boy.

"I have a son?" her father had uttered the stammer in his voice softening as the awe poured into it.

"You have a son Robert ap David," the healer said smiling at his face, "and he has a fine voice as well, listen!"

They could hear the loud cries from behind her as the new life bawled its way into the world.

"Can I see him?"

"Give us a few minutes Robert, your wife would like a few minutes to get cleaned up before you come in."

The wait was agonising as the door closed behind them. Emily's father, Robert, paced backwards and forwards in the tiny hallway. Emily stood watching him, wondering what Katie was doing inside her mother room.

"A son Emily, this is fantastic!" her father said suddenly wheeling and grabbing her by the shoulders. "A son, did you hear?"

"I heard Father, my congratulations," she said happily wrapping her arms around his waist and hugging him. "It's fabulous news."

Her father hugged her tightly, the broad smile plastered over his face at the joyous event. "It is Emily, it really, really is."

The next day was one of celebration, the mother of the child basking in the attention of the friends and acquaintances who visited one after the other to pass their congratulations at the continuation of the male line. Increasingly Emily found herself pushed to the side as father, mother, daughter and new born son created their own unique unit, without her.

On the second day after the birth, Emily found herself in their store, counting the stock carefully, marking the numbers on a slate, the scratched lines signifying the items according to the code that her and her father had taught her years before. She was totally engrossed in her work, so much so that she didn't hear her father arrive until he cleared his throat behind her.

"Emily, what are you doing love?" his soft voice asked as she made another scratch on her slate.

"Stocktaking Dad, it is the end of the month after all."

"You should leave that for now Emily love, you need to come home. There's something we need to discuss."

"What's the matter Dad," Emily asked suddenly concerned, this didn't sound like the man that had happily bubbled to her about his plans for the future only last evening.

"I think we should talk about it as a family Emily, let's wait until we get upstairs."

o+o+o

"WHAT?"

Emily was screaming at her mother in shock and horror at her words.

"Don't shout Emily, you'll wake the baby."

"Fuck the baby Mother, I can't believe you're even suggesting this."

"I'm not _suggesting_ anything Emily" Jenna said, emphasising the word carefully. The decision has been made.

"You're fucking serious aren't you, you're not even joking," she turned toward her father who stood next to his wife with a tear in his eye. "Father, you can't really be suggesting this?"

"We've made our decision Emily, it's for the best, " Robert said, not meeting her eyes. "You know how much of a struggle it is for us, we can't afford another mouth to feed and we must protect the bloodline, you know that. With Katie we can afford to pay a bride price to marry her off, but we cannot afford that for you, even if you wanted to get married."

"So you're going to fucking _sell_ me?"

"Don't be like that Emsy," Katie said, her voice cutting across her sisters. "You should see your sacrifice as an honour. The price we've agreed will keep us afloat until my marriage is finalised."

"An honour?" she spat, "If it's such an honour why don't _you_ sacrifice yourself for the sake of the family?"

"Because I'm the clever one, I'm the pretty one and I'm the one that has suitors lining up at the door wanting to marry me. Not the ugly one with no friends and no future."

Emily made to answer but her mother interrupted the argument before it could begin.

"The decision is made Emily, you will pack your things tonight and be ready in the morning. You will be leaving at first light."

"Father!" she appealed tears running down her face, "Father you can't let this happen, you can't let her do this to me."

"I'm sorry Emily, it's the only way."

"This discussion is over Emily, it is your duty to your family," Jenna said frowning as the faint gurgling of her newborn baby distracted her from her youngest daughter, dismissed as if she had already left. "Katie, bring your brother over here, it's time for him to nurse."

Emily fled from the room, her eyes streaming, running to the tiny corner of their house that she shared with her sister. Frantically she began stuffing her meagre possessions into a bag with escape the only thing in her mind. She had no idea where she would go, but she knew the alternative would be horrific.

She sensed the presence of her sister before she saw her, their peculiar link alerting to her presence before she spoke.

"It's nothing personal Emily, you do know that don't you? It's for the good of the family. I don't want this to happen, but Mother and Father have decided it's for the best."

Emily knew her sister well, knew that the disappointed little frown she was giving her hid a multitude of sins. She of all people recognised the truth that lay behind it.

"Fuck off Katie, you're fucking loving this; you've hated me since we were born. You've always been jealous that father loves me more than you."

"That's not true," Katie replied far too quickly, betraying the lie. "I don't want you to go."

"Don't lie to me Katie," Emily said sadly, stuffing a jumper into her bag.

"I'm not lying," Katie said ingratiatingly, "I really don't want you to go."

Emily snorted at her words not bothering to look up. "You know," Katie continued changing tone instantly. "I read something in one of fathers books once, in Japan it was once seen as a great honour for the youngest daughters to be sold into prostitution; sometimes for as little as a sack of rice, to allow the family to eat, it's not as if we're doing that."

"No you and Mother are selling me into slavery to a fucking caravan owner, that's totally different isn't it? I'm going to be treated like a fucking lady aren't I? This isn't Japan Katie, and this isn't one of fathers fucking books. You've always wanted me gone haven't you Katie, you can't stand the fact that we're twins"

"It's a family decision Emily, it's nothing to do with me or how you think I feel about you. Mother is just being realistic about our future that's all; besides, Father agreed to it as well."

"No doubt only because you and Mother forced him to agree to it," Emily snapped at her mirror image.

"That's not true," Katie replied and at once Emily knew it was a lie; her sisters voice giving her away instantly.

"Well I'm not going to let you get away with it," Emily said closing her bag and throwing it over her shoulder. "I'll die in the barrens before I let you sell me into slavery."

She pushed past her sister and headed for the doorway, not knowing where she would go, but knowing that it was her only choice. As she reached the door she heard Katie's voice right behind her, the smirk on her face evident in her voice.

"Mother said you would react like this," she said, "she asked me to make sure you didn't run away?"

"Oh yeah?" Emily said pausing in the doorway for a fraction of a second, turning to sneer at her sister. "How the fuck are you going to stop me?"

"Like this," Katie said smirking, and Emily's world went black.

o+o+o

When she woke up, she found herself bound hand and foot on a hard wooden surface. As consciousness finally came back to her brain, she realised that the wooden surface was moving; bumping up and down uncomfortably. She opened her eyes to find herself in the back of a wagon, a hard band rubbing at her throat as she moved back and forth with the rickety vehicle. A loud groan escaped from her lips as her entire body protested but it was quickly cut off.

"So you're awake then," a harsh voice said from somewhere in front of her and she cowered involuntarily from it. "Don't worry little girl, I won't hurt you; you're worth far more to me unharmed and, well, intact."

Emily wondered at the words before realising exactly what they meant, she knew in an instant what was her ultimate fate, and the reason for the traders words. As a virgin she would bring more money when she was sold, some rich Lord buying her for the privilege of deflowering her before, proverbially speaking, throwing her to the wolves.

"Though I am tempted to forsake the money and keep you for myself," he continued, leaning back and grabbing her chin, lifting her head from the floor. His wicked laugh echoed around the wagon before he grabbed her by the band around her throat and pulled her tight. "Don't think of running away little girl, the Barrens would chew you up and spit you out. With me at least you will get food and water, and when I sell you on, perhaps you'll even enjoy it."

"Fuck you!"

"Feisty are we? Well girl, you will learn to obey or things will be bad for you," he said, his rotten breath stinging her face as he spoke. He looped a rope through a ring at her neck and tied it to a bar beneath his seat. "Stay there little girl, think about your position, perhaps make it easy on yourself."

The next few months were hard on Emily, she was forced to do all the menial jobs about the traders small caravan, cooking, collecting water and washing up. If she was obedient, and did as she was told, she was fed, given water, and allowed a place by the fire. If she displeased the trader she was beaten and bound and thrown beneath one of the wagons for the night. In the morning he would tie her hands to the tailgate of his wagon, and she would forced to walk behind it to the next location where she would be paraded in front of the leering crowds where the trader would try desperately to get a price that reflected his investment.

It was after one of those nights that she got her chance to escape. Tired and hungry she had stumbled and dropped the pottery urn she was carrying water in, shattering it on the hard ground in a heartbeat. She stared at the pieces as the trader bore down on her, already removing the thick leather belt from his waist. He had beaten Emily mercilessly, stripping her clothes and smashing the hard leather into the bare skin of her back, bruising and cutting it over and over again. When his anger had been sated Emily lay crying on the floor, pulling her clothes back on as gently as she could.

It had been an uncomfortable night, no matter how she twisted and turned, either her bonds cut into her or she found herself on her battered back. She slept little during the darkness and when the dawn broke to reveal a vicious dust storm she was totally exhausted.

"Keep up little girl, I will not be stopping in this storm," the trader said as he tied her to the back of his cart. "If you falter I will drag you behind me."

She had plodded behind the caravan for hour after hour, the rope pulling her endlessly onwards. They didn't stop for lunch and as far as Emily could tell the trader didn't plan to stop at all. Her body was almost at the point of collapse when suddenly the rope went slack and she paused, waiting for the trader to pull her in. To her surprise the pull never came.

She squinted through the storm, in the distance she could see the tail end of the last horse of the caravan disappearing into the storm, apparently oblivious to her good fortune. She looked around herself, not knowing what to do, before running headlong into the arms of the storm hoping for salvation.

Emily ran and ran, her flight made more difficult by the rope that bound her hands tightly together. After what felt like hours she stopped and ducked down behind a cluster of rocks and hid from the pursuit that thankfully didn't come. It wasn't long before night fell over the Barrens, and Emily realised the immensity of her situation. Here she was, lost, alone and freezing cold; she had no idea how to survive out here and she had no food or water; had nothing more than the clothes on her back. Trying in vain to ignore the cold that was seeping into her fingers she placed a sliver of rock between her knees and began rubbing the rope against it. She was crying openly by the time she finally cut through her bonds, frustration, fear and relief all combining to destroy what was left of her emotional stability. As soon as her hands were free she began tearing at the collar that marked her as a slave, realising almost instantly that it would not come off.

As the night progressed, and the storm along with it, Emily huddled against the rocks; her hands tucked into her sleeves, her scarf pulled up against the dust shivering from the cold. She was utterly miserable, but one thing screamed through her veins, for the first time in months, year perhaps, she was truly free.

o+o+o

"So that's what happened," Emily said, the tears rolling down her face. "I kept on running for day after day. I found a few leaves and stuff to eat here and there, but I kept getting hungrier and hungrier. Then I can across a bush with berries on it and when I squished them between my fingers they were wet. I was _so_ thirsty," she sobbed causing Dog to whine, and Naomi to wrap a careful arm around her shoulders; hugging her as her mother had once done when she was upset herself.

"I ate the berries, but they tasted so foul I spat a lot of them out. Had to force some down my throat in the hope that they would keep me going but they just made me sick."

Naomi shook her head at her words, knowing exactly what the result of eating those berries could have been.

"You could have died you know," she said sternly pulling back and staring into the pretty eyes in front of her.

"I didn't care you know," Emily said sniffing and wiping her nose with a sleeve. "At that point I was sure it was eat anything I could find or die anyway."

Naomi nodded, remembering her first few days on the road, she'd had the advantage of some plant lore and hers and Dog's hunting skills and even she had gone hungry along the way.

"Anyway, I was almost constantly sick, always hungry and messed up and then I saw your fire and that's when you caught me."

"I found you," Naomi corrected.

"That too."

"Does your back still hurt?" Naomi asked thinking about the beating that Emily had described.

"It's not so bad now," she replied. "It's hurt a little today with this pack."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Naomi asked wondering why the girl would have put herself through the pain, a little impressed that she did it without complaint.

"I thought you might leave me behind if I complained too much."

"I probably would have," Naomi said, ignoring the look from Emily and the flicked ears from Dog, trying not to smile. "But I don't think Dog would ever have forgiven me."

Dog barked as she tickled his ears affectionately. "Do you want me to take a look?" Naomi asked, "At your back I mean."

Emily nodded and turned away, taking off her clothes gingerly, wrapping an arm protectively across her breasts as they were revealed. Naomi winced as she was the wicked welts appear from below her rough woollen undershirt; red, raw and angry looking.

"Hold still," she said pulling a thin cloth from her pocket and pouring water over it, "this might hurt a little."

Emily winced and bit her lip as Naomi washed down one of the wounds, but she didn't make a sound. Carefully Naomi cleaned out the dirt and wool from the welts and applied a thin layer of a healing salve she had learned to make from one of the women at the farm where she had spent the winter.

"Better?" she asked as Emily pulled her clothes back on, huddling closer to the fire and shivering.

"It'll be fine," Emily replied blowing on the fire and placing another branch onto it. "thank you, now can we get some food prepared? I'm hungry and tired and want nothing more than to have something to eat and go to sleep."

"We can," Naomi said, pulling the bird out of the pot and tossing it onto the floor by the girl. "Lesson three was fire making, lesson four is learning how to pluck."

Naomi grinned and winked at the small girl, trying to ease the tension that had formed between them; it brought a smile to her face when the other girl smiled and began to chuckle.

"I don't know an awful lot about plucking," Emily said, biting back a full on laugh, her first laugh in a long, long time. "I've never plucked in my life."

"I know that," Naomi replied smirking, "that's why it's lesson number four."

Their laughter reverberated around the rocks as they set about preparing dinner, and in the cold of that long winters night a friendship was born.

o+o+o

"Hold fucking still," Naomi exclaimed as she arrested the blow she was about to make on the shiny red m'al collar that bound Emily's neck in an endless circle.

"Well stop hitting me then," the smaller girl protested.

"I'm not hitting you, I'm trying to break this open," Naomi replied coolly, pulling up on the flat of the cloth covered blade she had jammed between the collar and the soft white skin of Emily's neck. Emily was lying close to the fire and Naomi was hunched over her, Dog looking on lazily. She had carefully positioned the welded joint of the collar to the top and had been hammering at it carefully with a stone to break the thin line of weld that sealed it closed. Emily had been twitching at every strike and Naomi was finding it more and more difficult to get a clean blow.

"Just hold still, it's weakening," Naomi said bracing her arm and bringing down the rock sharply, smiling in satisfaction as the thin cracks began to appear in the tiny beam of her reading light. Emily took a deep breath, closed her eyes and tensed as Naomi hammered away. As the blows rang out Emily found herself involuntarily counting each ringing strike; _'one, two, three'_ her thoughts went; until she reached thirty five and there was a dull clunk as the stone struck home.

"Done," Naomi said triumphantly, tossing the rock to the floor and siding the knife out carefully. "Sit up for a second."

Emily eased her tiny frame from the floor and sat up facing her protector, rolling her neck to ease out the kinks. She felt Naomi's strong hands grasp the collar and pull it apart, watching her smile as she slipped the collar away announcing her freedom.

"Here, I think you should have this," Naomi said, her muscles straining as she bent the metal back into the rough 'O' shape.

"What would I want with it?" Emily asked, taking it and turning it in her hands, seeing it for the first time; frowning in disgust at the roughly hammered strip with its ring and owners mark visible .

"Keep it, trade it whatever you want," Naomi said leaning over Dog, stirring the pot that was cooking their dinner.

"I could trade it? Could I buy some travelling things with it?"

"Yeah," Naomi said scooping out some liquid and tasting it, slurping happily. "You won't get a lot for it, but it's better than nothing. You won't be able to trade it like that though."

"What do you mean," Emily replied as Naomi began scooping the stew into their bowls.

"It's too clean," Naomi said handing her the bowl, watching as Emily dropped the collar to the floor. "if you want to trade it we need to treat it, rough it up a little."

"How do we do that?" Emily asked, spooning the meat and roots into her mouth hungrily.

"Well for starters we put it in the fire, then we piss on it and drag it behind us for a day or two."

"We do _what_?" Emily exclaimed, dropping her spork, hurriedly scrabbling to pick it up and wiping it on her jacket.

"We heat it up and piss on it, it'll start it rotting," Naomi said, hiding a smirk at Emily's indignation.

"Rusting?"

"Whatever you want to call it. The Smith in our village called it 'tanishing', he used to do it to make a newly made blade look older."

"Why did he do that?"

"Old blades are better quality than the new ones, the m'al is purer so they bring more in trade. He used to make his work look older so he could get more for it when the caravans came."

"That's dishonest," Emily said, Naomi just shrugged in reply.

"He was a nice person, he helped me stay alive after my mother died, taught me things I needed to know; gave me my bow and showed me how to hunt; gave me my pack when I escaped the village."

Emily didn't reply, merely leaning forward and scooping some more food out of the pot, tossing a small chunk of meat to the grateful Dog who wagged his tail at her. She knew almost nothing about the girl that had saved her life, feeding her and keeping her warm after she had poisoned herself. She wanted to ask about the village Smith, about Naomi's mother, but she just knew that this was not the time, Naomi closing up even as she spoke. It was as if a dark cloud had drifted over her at the mention of her mother and even Dog had reacted to the change in mood.

"How far will we walk tomorrow?" Emily asked finally breaking the silence.

"As far as we can," Naomi said simply, staring into the flames. "Do you think you'll be strong enough to pick up the pace a little?"

"I can try, I don't want to hold you back."

"We'll build it up slowly don't worry about that, but you might ache for a bit for the first few days."

"I ache now, I really wish I could have a baff."

Naomi looked at Emily and frowned, "What's a baff?" she asked curiously as she scraped out her bowl with a leaf.

"You're kidding right?" Emily said following Naomi's lead and cleaning out her own bowl. "A baff? A nice hot baff?"

Naomi shook her head at Emily and used a little of their water to swill out her cooking pot before packing her things into her bag.

"A baff, you know…" Emily floundered in her explanation, realising that Naomi genuinely didn't recognise the term. "Where you soak yourself in hot water and get clean."

"A wash?" Naomi said looking bemused.

"No, it's more than that, it's where you get into the water and let it cover you, have you never had a baff?"

"Well I've been swimming, and I've got clean in a river, is that what you mean?"

"Was the water hot?" Emily asked smiling, secretly pleased that she finally knew something that the taller girl did not.

"Almost never," Naomi replied, shuddering at the memory of getting clean in an icy river earlier in the year.

"Then no," Emily replied her smile broadening, "That's not what I mean."

Naomi stretched back onto the floor by the fire, laying her head against Dog's shoulder and staring up at the cloudy skies. "Tell me about it, the baff I mean."

Emily lay back on the cold ground herself, her head by Naomi's feet, Dog's tail swishing happily against the toes of her boots as she carefully eased herself down, grateful that the healing salve had done it's work and eased her discomfort. As they lay together, bodies warmed from inside and out she told tales of the baff they had in their home, the large lined tub that was sunk into the floor and filled with water from the fire. She told her of how she would pour a scented oil that her sister had made into the baff and how the smell of herbs would infuse the hot water and make the room smell almost as good as their kitchen.

"It must be nice to have had all that space," Naomi said interrupting her suddenly. "We only had a small hut for mum and I, it was only one tiny room, but it was warm and sheltered and I was happy there. Then she died, after that I lived in the hall; until I was banished and made outcast."

"Outcast?" Emily asked shuffling around and laying her head next to Naomi's snuggling into the unprotesting Dog.

"Yeah, I was cast out of the community, forced to live on the outskirts with the animals and earn my food doing the jobs that no one else wanted to do."

"Why were you cast out?" Emily asked without thinking, "Did you do something bad?"

"Terrible," Naomi replied uncomfortably, telling her story for the first time. "I asked for a place at our Chief's hearth on a freezing cold night."

"Is that all, they cast you out for that? We had places where I lived where _anyone_ could stay if they needed to. There were plenty of big buildings that people could use, all they had to do was fix them up a little.

"Buildings," Naomi repeated. "I love buildings, though most of the big ones that I've come across were completely ruined. Did you say that they were virtually intact? Where did you come from Emily? Where was it you lived?"

Naomi's questions went unanswered, nothing but the sound of the fire crackling to disturb the silence of the night. Naomi leaned forward, her stomach muscles tensing at the effort. The girl next to her was fast asleep, dropping off between one breath and the next. She took a moment to study the face of the sleeping girl. She was remarkably pretty, Naomi thought, though she was definitely showing signs of the troubles she had faced over the months. She was pale and drawn, there were black rings around her eyes, but she looked better than the girl that Naomi had practically carried into her camp not that long ago; it had been a truly astonishing transformation. Gently she reached down and brushed a piece of Emily's dark red hair away from her face, easing the end from between the lips that had been unconsciously sucking on it.

'_Yes'_, Naomi thought, _'a very pretty girl indeed'_

"What the fuck are you playing at?" she muttered to herself, taking out her sleeping bag, unzipping it completely and shaking it out before laying it over Emily. Scratching Dog's head as she stood up she went about making sure their camp was secure. As she worked in the firelight she pushed the image of Emily's naked back from her mind and adamantly refused to think about how soft her skin had been when she had run her fingers down it.

"You've got to stop this Naomi," she whispered as she inched under the sleeping bag, her chores complete; making sure that she didn't touch Emily's prostrate body in any way.

"Stop what?" a sleepy voice murmured snapping her out of her thoughts.

"Nothing important," she said, "We've got an early start tomorrow, go back to sleep."

If Emily heard her she made no acknowledgement, except for a faint snore. Naomi grinned as she rolled onto her side, snuggled her head against the prone form of Dog, who was still happily acting as their pillow, and slept, her dreams tormented by images from her past.

o+o+o

"_I went to the river, water to carry, when I return, who will I marry?"_

The children's game had been sung in the village for decades, a selection method for the games that were to come. As the children got slightly older it became something more, a method that the youngsters used to pair off in a different way, a method of expressing allegiances and so much more. Adulthood came early in the village, responsibility and marriage along with it.

"I choose Naomi," Jam Co'ok said clearly, the finger pointing at him, asking him to choose. "When I return, I will marry Naomi Campbell."

He held her eye as the girls they were with tittered around them, this was the third time that Jam had chosen Naomi as his partner that summer, and in their village three times meant something significant. He was indicating his desire for her.

Naomi knew Jam liked her, his friendship had been the only thing that had helped her after her mother died, extra platefuls of food, assistance with her chores, the freedom to drop her responsibilities for a few hours and play with her friends at his request. Unfortunately for Jam, Naomi didn't feel the same way, she felt something totally different.

"Once more," Naomi's friend Amy insisted grinning at her knowingly. "let's do it once more."

"_I went to the fields, crops for to plant, when I return who would I want?_

_I went to the Elders, justice to get, when I return who would I wed?_

_I went to the river, water to carry, when I return, who will I marry?"_

The children stopped their chant as one, their fingers pointing directly at Naomi. Their eyes flicking between Naomi and Jam expectantly.

"I choose Sara," Naomi said unexpectedly, staring at the dark haired girl that had filled her dreams over the last few months, feelings and urges she'd never experienced before being focused on the tiny brunette. "When I return, I will marry Sara Cooper."

"You can't marry her," Jam said, his face flushing as the slight registered.

"Why not? Why can't I marry Sara?" Naomi asked innocently, not noticing the faces of her playmates, nor the horror and disgust that was painted over them.

"Because it's wrong Campbell," the voice of Sara Cooper sang about the clearing; Naomi's heart clenching at the sound of contempt in her voice. "girls don't marry girls."

"That's right Campbell," Jam shouted over the mutterings of their friends, "girls _don't_ marry girls."

"You should have picked Jam Naomi," Amy hissed hurriedly, sensing the mood turn against her friend. "Pick again and pick right this time."

"I meant what I said," Naomi said choosing her words carefully. "I'd choose Sara."

She'd noticed Sara months before, she had spent hours watching her out of the corner of her eye as she went about her chores. Naomi had no idea why she found Sara attractive, knew that what she felt was different; but knew with a understanding that she had never experienced before that what she felt was true, true for her anyway.

"You're a freak Crapbell," Jam shouted angrily, her rejection making him vicious, starting a cry that would haunt her for the rest of her time in the village, "You're a fucking freak!"

With those words Naomi's life shook on its bearings, in her admittance of her feelings and her acceptance of who she was, she had unleashed a nightmare upon herself that was hidden from the old people, hidden from the Elders that controlled their lives. The old one's never knew why the children had turned against Naomi, but they fell foul to the campaign of hatred that the jealous and rejected Jam began; persecuting her whenever they could. It began with name calling and isolation, but soon developed a more sinister side; her food being stolen or ruined and her meagre possessions being scattered or hidden.

As the persecution got worse, so did Naomi's obduracy, along with her temper. Her childhood friend, Amy, tried to stick by her; tried to defend her actions to the others but Naomi wasn't having any of it.

"I am who I am Amy," she said, spitting onto the ground at the name of her tormentor. "If Jam doesn't like that then he can go and fuck himself."

"He wanted you Naomi, you could have been the Elders wife one day."

"I'd rather be dead."

"I can't help you any more, not if you are going to be like this Naomi."

"Then goodbye Amy," Naomi snarled angrily, "If you can't be my friend then fuck off and leave me alone, let me get on with my chores so I can actually eat tonight; I'm sick of being hungry."

Her words closed the door on any further human kindness, until the Smith had taken pity on her years later that was. Naomi Campbell had made her stand, and her life would never be the same because of it.

o+o+o

Naomi woke to the sound of singing, the bright light hurting her eyes as she prised them open reluctantly. It was funny, but she had been on the road for a long time now, working her way from one side of the country to another, but mornings were always difficult for her. It seemed like every morning it got harder and harder to get moving, either that or it was the increasing cold weather that made it arduous to get started. The cold of the floor seemed to have seeped into her bones during the night and she stretched carefully to ease out her knots.

"Good morning," she heard as she finally climbed out from under the protective shelter of her sleeping bag.

"Yeah, morning," she replied unenthusiastically, "morning Dog…all right boy, I'm awake" she added as the great hound came bundling over to her, butting her with his powerful head until she got up and ruffed his collar.

"What you doing?" she asked as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes, noticing Emily sitting in front of the fire poking it with a stick. She watched as the tiny part of Emily's face visible under her scarf and hat flushed a rosy pink colour.

"I'm, er…" Emily's voice tailed off and she dug around in the fire, finally lifting up the flattened band that had once marked her slavery.

"Ah," Naomi replied smiling despite herself. "I think I'll be able to help you with that in a minute or two."

The girls stared at each other for a few seconds before breaking down into fits of giggles, Emily dropping the collar back into the embers before sitting back on her haunches and laughing. She laughed and laughed, long after Naomi had stopped giggling and began to look at her concernedly. Naomi had seen this before, had been through this herself, the point at which relief, fear and every emotion you'd been suppressing came to the boil. As she expected Emily's laughter turned more hysterical and then, in a heartbeat, the tears flowed.

It was hard to tell who got to the sobbing girl first, Naomi and Dog arriving seemingly at the same moment; Dog running around yipping and barking, expressing his concern in his own inimical way. Naomi was more practical, wrapping the girl in a hug and pulling Emily towards her. Emily clung onto her tightly as she cried, venting her emotions through her sobs. Naomi found that all she could do was hold her back, finding that she had no comforting words inside her that might help the situation, opting instead to simply allow Emily to cry herself out.

Eventually Emily tapped Naomi on the shoulders, silently asking to be released. As Naomi let her go, Emily pulled her back into a hug.

"Thanks," she said, sniffing.

"For what?"

"For letting me go," Emily said wiping her face with her sleeve. "That coat of yours fucking stinks, when was the last time that you washed it?"

"Well it rained pretty hard about a month ago, does that count?" Naomi asked, sensing that Emily was trying to change the subject and move on; perhaps embarrassed by her sudden breakdown.

"Not if you didn't use soap it doesn't." Emily said nudging Naomi with her shoulder.

"Soap?" Naomi replied smiling softly and nudging her back. "What is this thing called soap?"

"Fuck off," Emily replied, smiling finally and scruffing the bouncing Dog who was leaping around her legs. "Easy boy," she told him softly; "I'm ok now…calm down."

"Dog, sit!" Naomi called, amused at his antics. She often forgot that he was little more than a puppy, he'd grown so massive in the time they'd been together. Obediently Dog walked over to her and sat, his tongue hanging out and his tail wagging endlessly. Naomi laid her hand on his powerful shoulders and warmed her feet by the fire.

"We need to get moving soon," she said sniffing the air. "There's bad weather coming and we need to find some shelter."

"Will we be ok?" Emily asked, looking at the skies around her.

"We'll be fine, there's usually somewhere you can shelter, we were just a bit unlucky yesterday, we probably should have rested at that pen we came across, but I really wanted to get some more miles under us. We'll just have to be a bit more careful tonight."

"Well, if we're going to get started I think I'd better…um…" Emily said picking up the little folding shovel from Naomi's pack and gesturing with it.

"OK," Naomi said, pleased that Emily had remembered the conversations on camp craft as they'd walked. It was totally unnecessary she knew, digging a hole to crap in; after all they were about to walk away from this place never to return. Then again, it was a good habit to get into.

"Emily," she called out as she spread the embers of the fire with her boot. The short girl reappearing around the rocks with a questioning look on her face.

"Don't forget your m'al," she said holding the glowing collar up with a stick.

"Thanks," Emily said with a shy grin taking the stick from her.

"Have fun."

o+o+o

The next few weeks were hard on both Naomi and Emily as they walked across the Barrens heading for something close to civilization. For Naomi it was frustration and a hint of fear that affected her. As a pair they were travelling much slower than she could on her own, despite Emily's efforts and that worried her. For Emily it was all about pain and exhaustion; she was completely unused to the constant walking, and she was becoming tired and irritable, occasionally taking it out on both Naomi and Dog.

To her credit, Naomi never bit back at the accusations and grumpiness, understanding exactly why Emily was acting he way she was. Their moods weren't helped by the strict rationing of food and water that the conditions all too often enforced; Naomi's short hunting trips barely bringing them anything worth eating.

Despite all of this, she thought, they were becoming a good team. Emily settling into the process of building their camp when they decide to stop for the night, leaving Naomi time to head off with her bow and search for game. Despite her inexperience, Emily was becoming quite the traveller; having a roaring fire prepared for Naomi's return after only a few days practicing.

They had a bit of luck on the fifth day of their travelling, Emily spotting a suspicious shape on the near horizon as they walked. One swift diversion later and they discovered a veritable treasure trove half hidden under the drifting dirt.

"You're kidding," Emily said as Naomi held up the rubber breathing mask that looked similar to her own. "I can't wear that, that poor fucker died in it." She stared down at the offending object with disgust written all over her face .

"Well, it'll need cleaning, and we'll have to swap the filters, but it'll work better than that scarf, it'll keep you safe and stop you coughing all fucking night."

"But…"

"Emily, this is what it's like ok?" Naomi said patiently, trying to explain."You make do with what you can get. Something like this would cost a fortune in trade so stop complaining. It's something you're going to just have to get used to."

"Have you….have you done this before?" Emily asked still disgusted by the thought of what they were about to do.

"A lot of what I'm wearing was taken from a body in a far worse state than this Emily," Naomi said carefully. "I washed it as best I could and then I put it on; the rest I traded, it's just have to get on with it, it's just something that you have to do."

Emily still looked disgusted as she stripped the body carefully, taking everything that she could. As Emily dealt with her squeamishness, Naomi searched the area around the unfortunate traveller for anything else that might be useful.

"I wonder what he died of?" Emily mused out loud as she rolled the body over and pulled off the long coat he was wearing, folding it and placing it on her pile.

"Exhaustion, starvation, exposure...who knows? He could have died of anything really; we're just lucky you saw him."

"Have you seen a lot of bodies like this?" Emily asked, the bile rising in her throat as the blotched body appeared as the clothes were removed.

"Not really," Naomi replied truthfully. "Mostly the animals find them before we do, but this is the best one I've come across, this guy actually seemed to know what he was doing."

"How do you mean?"

"Look at his gear Ems, this is almost a full travelling pack for you, I mean the clothes will be a bit long, but we can roll them up. There's a spare pair of gloves here for me as well, mine are ruined." She held up her hands and showed the threadbare woollen mittens she was wearing. They were indeed ripped and she tossed them onto the trinket pile and pulled on the new pair, sighing in pleasure almost immediately.

"Oh that feels good, I can't tell you how long it's been since my fingers felt properly warm." She looked across at the shorter girl who was staring at her in disgust. "What?"

"I can't believe you did that, without even washing them first, Jesus."

Emily turned away and looked over at Dog, who was scrabbling at a hole in a nearby bank. Naomi picked up the coat that the traveller had been wearing and walked over to Emily, placing it over her shoulders and holding it there as she attempted to shrug it off.

"Emily," she said softly but firmly, "Ems you've got to shake this off okay? You can't think like a town dweller any more; look at this poor fucker, he was far better equipped than you and he's dead. He had better kit than me in some ways and he's still dead. You ignore the gifts that the Gods give you at your peril."

"But it's..." Emily's voice tailed off as he shoulders slumped. She knew that Naomi was right, but she couldn't help how she felt. It all seemed so ghoulish, so wrong.

"I understand Ems, I really do. But you can't afford to think like that any more. If it makes you feel any better we'll wash the kit you want to keep as soon as we can. There's nothing wrong with it though, it doesn't even smell."

She left the coat over the girls shoulders and walked back to the pile, starting to put things into the bags. She stripped the dust filters from the facemask and hunted through her bag for the cloth spares that she carried, carefully slipping the used set into her rucksack to be cleaned and reused.

It was like that, Naomi had discovered, when you walked the long road you had to leave your sensibilities behind you; if you didn't, you ended up like the traveller at her feet.

Using some of their precious water, Naomi carefully washed the inside of the facemask with a cleanish cloth, wiping the lenses with the dry end. Satisfied with the results she held the mask to her face and sniffed, there was nothing but the musty smell of the rubber and plaztic.

"Which one do you want?" she shouted across at the short girl who had, to her relief, pulled the thick coat further around her shoulders; sheltering from the cold breeze.

"Sorry?" Emily said turning and walking over to where Naomi stood.

"Which mask do you want, this one or mine?"

Emily bit her lip, and looked at the floor. Naomi smiled and unclipped her own mask from her belt, putting her damp cloth in it and handing it over.

"I didn't mean..."

"It's all right Emily, I don't mind, if anything this is a better one than mine," Naomi replied smiling and pulling her new mask over her face, adjusting the straps to ensure a good fit. She watched as Emily wiped out the mask and lifted it to her face, balking slightly as she pulled the straps tight.

"You get used to it," Naomi said loudly, "it feels a bit restrictive at first, but by the end of the day you'll have forgotten that you are wearing it.

Emily nodded and replied, her voice muffled by the mask. Naomi shook her head at her and spoke again.

"You have to speak up Ems, and try and slow down when you speak, the mask makes it difficult to hear."

"I..see," Emily said slowly, this time her voice audible. "Is…this…better?"

"Not that slowly you twat." Naomi replied laughing at her new friend. "Just slow down a little, give me a chance to make out your words."

"Oh, Okay. Is this better?" Emily asked.

"Much better, now will you put that coat on properly and pick up your new bag?" Naomi pressed on relentlessly, knowing only action would cure Emily of her misgivings; "because frankly we've wasted enough time here and it looks like it's going to rain soon."

Naomi was right about the weather, and by late afternoon Emily was glad for her new coat, no matter how much it still repulsed her. They were thoroughly soaked and even Dog was finding it hard to find the energy to wag his tail.

"Are we going to stop soon Naoms?" Emily whined, her feet and back hurting. She was tired and miserable and wanted nothing more than to stretch out in front of a warm fire, ideally after eating a good meal.

"Just a few more miles Ems," Naomi answered, ignoring the sigh that she heard despite the mask. She pointed to a shape that was barely visible through the gloom, "Can we try and get to that building? I don't know about you, but I'd like to spend the night somewhere dry!"

Emily squinted through the driving rain, sure enough in the valley beneath them there appeared to be a small stone building. Her spirits lifting at the sight, Emily took a breath and continued to walk down the hillside.

"Come on then," she shouted, her voice drifting back towards Naomi and Dog. "Sooner we get there, the sooner we can get warm and dry."

Naomi smiled under her mask, and scratched Dog between the ears. "Shall we follow her boy?" she asked quietly; Dog barked enthusiastically and bounded after the disappearing figure. Naomi chuckled to herself and set off after them; feeling better than she had for hours.

o+o+o

Weeks later the weather was turning far, far worse; instead of just rain, sleet and snow were beginning to join the party. Everything about their journey was becoming harder and harder and Naomi knew that it wouldn't be long before they would need to find shelter for the winter. It would be hard with the three of them she knew; last winter Naomi had found a kindly farmer who had offered her shelter and food for the work she could offer. She knew that such a find would be rare this winter, firstly because they were still in the Barrens, where people were very thin on the ground, and secondly because she suspected convincing a farmer to help out two people rather than one would be nearly impossible.

Without telling Emily, Naomi was examining every single village and ruined farm they came across for its potential as a stop-over wintering place. Ideally they wanted a building that needed little work to keep them dry, a good place for a fire to keep them warm and a plentiful supply of water and food nearby.

'_Fat fucking chance of that'_ she thought gloomily, _'my luck isn't that fucking good.'_

They travelled ever Westwards, staying in broken buildings, ruins of towns and villages long since dead; either by the peoples leaving, or dying where they stood. Naomi was unconcerned by the reasons, simply happy to find somewhere to stay even if they lacked the necessary things for life, like water. Endlessly they pressed on; the journey was getting harder and harder and they both knew it.

It was nearly a month after they had found the body that they crested a hill to see a huge plain in front of them; snow lay lying about the ground and there was the ruins of a large village in the centre, crumbling buildings scattered around it seemingly randomly.

"No smoke." Naomi said suddenly shocking Emily out of her contemplation of how nice it would be to be warm.

"Sorry?" she said, shaking her head

"There's no smoke down there, it looks uninhabited."

"Are you sure?" Emily asked, beating her hands against her body in an attempt to get warm. She still couldn't come to terms with the fact that she was so hot under the layers of clothes that she sweated all day, yet still she felt freezing cold.

"Can't never be sure Ems," Naomi said, looking across at the masked figure, now looking as much the hardened survivalist as anyone that she had ever seen; "but we need to find somewhere to stop for the night and that looks as good as any."

Inside Naomi's heart was beating ten to the dozen, she'd already noted that many of the buildings in the village looked in good condition, that there was a broad river meandering through the vale that offered not only the promise of fresh water, but fresh water fish. The vale itself looked rich as well, the snow hiding the grass that Naomi suspected would feed many things that they could hunt and eat. This looked like a good place to stay, it looked like a _very_ good place to stay.

The sun was setting when they made camp in a crumbling farmhouse about a mile away from the main town. Naomi and Emily had carefully observed the place as they walked towards it, there was no sign of life at all, not a single smoke trail disturbed the horizon and not a single thing moved that they could see.

Nothing that walked on two legs anyway.

"Emily, Dog stay!" Naomi hissed urgently as they walked through a small copse of trees. Emily had become used to Naomi talking like this, and wasn't at all surprised to see her taking her bow from her shoulder and notching an arrow.

Naomi slipped away as silently as a ghost, leaving Emily to stand in the woods, her hand on Dog's head. She heard the dull twang of the bowstring over to her left and then she heard Naomi's triumphant cry.

"Emily, give me a hand here," She heard Naomi shout, unmuffled by the mask she pulled on every morning. Emily nudged dog and then followed him as her returned to his mistress. They found her crouched over the body of a large animal with brown furry skin and branches growing out of its head .

"Look Ems," Naomi said, her face alight with excitement. "I've killed us a deer!"

"A deer?" Emily said, unfamiliar with the term, or indeed the animal.

"Yeah," Naomi said lifting the head by one of the branches. "Meat!"

"Meat I understand," Emily relied smiling and lifting her own mask from her face. "Thing is Naoms, what the fuck are we supposed to do with it? It's fucking huge!"

"Well we could take the best bits now, or we could drag it behind us to that building over there."

"Drag it?" Emily exclaimed in horror looking at the size of the creature Naomi had killed.

"Yeah, not a problem." Naomi said confidently unsheathing her machete and smiling. "Trust me, I've done this before."

The solution, Emily had to admit, was ingenious. Naomi cut down a few saplings from nearby and lashed them into something she called an 'A' frame.

"See Emily," Naomi had said holding her contraption up proudly. "You wanted me to teach you how to read, here's your first lesson…this is the letter A."

"A" Emily replied nodding, "now how the fuck does making a wooden letter help us?"

"Watch and learn Ems," Naomi said hauling the dead animal onto her frame, "Watch and learn."

Emily found herself even more impressed than normal at Naomi's ingenuity, she looped some of her rope around the tip of the frame and used to drag it over her shoulder, the two ends at the bottom of the frame bending into the ground and sliding easily across the floor. As a method of carrying their load it was remarkably efficient, however, even so it took them far longer than usual to cover the distance to the place they had agreed would be a good place to stop.

"Ems, take Dog and go on ahead," Naomi said as they crossed through a hedgerow into the last field between them and the building. "Go see if it's ok and see if you can find some bits for a fire and get us set up."

"But…"

"It's ok Ems, I'll be fine. I'll be right behind you."

"Well if you're sure," Emily said hitching her pack onto her back and lengthening her stride. "Come on Dog…let's go make us a home for the night."

Naomi looked on proudly as Emily led Dog across the field towards the ramshackle building. She paused for a second, taking a breath, and enjoyed the moment, she found that she was actually proud of the person that Emily had become. Physically she had become much stronger than she had been when Naomi first found her and, Naomi suspected, mentally she had become stronger too. The Barrens would do that to you, Naomi had spent months crossing them and she believed that she was much stronger too.

Dog's barking brought her back to reality and she looked up to see him standing in the field and looking back at her expectantly. Naomi hitched her load over her shoulder once more and began to walk across the snow covered field to what she hoped would be warmth and shelter; and as the sun began to set over the horizon she saw a faint trail of smoke drift out of the building and began to trudge her way toward a place she thought might become home…at least for a little while.

o+o+o

"Fucking hell that feels good," Emily announced as she pushed her bowl away; as she sat back against the wall she belched loudly and blushed. "Excuse me!"

"You're excused," Naomi said, stuffing one last piece of meat into her mouth and chewed happily. "It's good to be warm isn't it?"

"And full," Emily agreed, "I feel like I won't be able to move for a week."

"About that," Naomi said, trying to broach the subject of wintering. "I was thinking that we should stay for a few days, get our strength back. We've got enough food to see us through safely and we've got plenty of water here."

"Oh that sounds fantastic," Emily said, wriggling her toes inside her boots and relaxing visibly. "A couple of days rest would be just what the Doctor ordered."

Naomi allowed herself to relax as well, the initial hurdle overcome. Mentally she began planning her investigations for the next few days; first of all she wanted to see if the river was clean, and if it contained fish; next she wanted to find a building in the town that would make a secure, warm winter shelter. If they were going to be staying for the months when snow and storms would rule the land she wanted somewhere that would see them through in something akin to comfort. She also wanted to see if anyone else did live here and if they would pose a threat or not, and finally she wanted to climb to the top of the strange hill that dominated the landscape in the vale and see what else was around them. It wasn't too high, but Naomi suspected that it would be a good vantage point to see if she could work out where they were.

"I think I should do some exploring tomorrow," she offered to the room, not aiming it at Emily directly, "scout out what's around us."

"That sounds sensible," Emily said untying her sleeping rolls from the bottom of her pack. "I think we should look for somewhere better to stay than here."

"We?" said Naomi, looking across at Emily, watching as she spread her bedding out on the floor, the blanket and sleeping bag being laid out on top of one another as insulation from the cold floor.

"Yes we," Emily said firmly, "you me and Dog. Why, where you thinking of leaving me behind?"

"No," Naomi replied. She had thought of abandoning Emily many times since she had agreed for her to tag along with her in their search for civilisation. Her moodiness when tired, her constant need to talk, all of these things had told her that she should pack up her travelling gear during the night and slip away. There were only two reasons that had stopped her from doing just that, the burgeoning friendship that had developed between them, something she had not enjoyed for years, and Dog. Without either of those Naomi would be on her own; and, she reflected as she untied her own sleeping bag, probably worse off.

For all her moods, for all her annoying habits, Naomi liked having Emily along for the ride. Dog was a fantastic companion, he always had been, but it was nice to have someone to actually talk to; someone that she knew was listening to her words and understanding what she meant. Someone that could reply and engage her and distract her when she was cold and wet and miserable. Naomi found that she liked having a companion alongside her as she walked; liked that it was someone as smart and bright as Emily even more.

"No Ems I wasn't thinking of leaving you behind," she said truthfully. "But I was thinking that you'd want to rest up for a day or so before we moved on."

"Not getting up at dawn and walking till sunset _will_ be a rest Naoms," Emily replied again using the little nickname she'd invented that Naomi found so endearing. "I think I can survive a little wander around. Besides," she added grinning to herself as she stretched out on the bedding, "if I left it to you we'll be sleeping in a three walled room with no roof again."

"That was only the once," Naomi said trying to defend herself whilst yawning widely, "and it was your fault we had to stop there, I mean who complains about a blister?"

She threw her bed roll at Emily who caught it deftly and smiled, unrolling it and laying it over her own. Despite finding a sleeping bag and two thick blankets along the way, they were still sharing the same space when they slept, Dog laying, more often than not, between them or across their feet. Neither of them really knew why they kept sleeping like that, reasons like 'shared body heat' and 'better safety' were bandied about as justification; but in truth both of them just felt the need to be close to the other. They had been sharing their blankets for weeks now and Naomi, for one, was sure that she wouldn't sleep soundly without knowing that Emily was nearby and safe.

"I've been looking forward to this all day," Emily said pulling the blanket over her clothed body and grunting as Dog flopped down alongside her. "You turning in Naomi?"

"Not just yet," Naomi said, taking off her coat and laying it over the blanket. "I will in a bit though. Sleep well Emily."

"You too Naoms," came the already sleep slurred reply. Naomi smiled, always amused at her friend's ability to fall asleep in an instant. As she relaxed she dug around in her pack, bringing out her carefully wrapped book. As she went to open the wrapping, a thought passed through her head, and she knew that she would have to disturb the probably sleeping girl to answer the question that otherwise would haunt her through the night.

"Ems?" she said loudly, smiling wryly at the disapproving grunt from the bedding, "what the fuck _is_ a Doctor?"

Emily's eyes opened and she sat up on her elbows, disturbing Dog as she did so. "What?" she asked looking into the blue eyes made dark by the firelight.

"A Doctor, you said that staying here would be 'just what the Doctor ordered'; I wondered what a Doctor was."

She looked at the taller girl, sat next to her pack with that ever present book on her lap, the one that she never allowed Emily to see.

"A Doctor?" Emily repeated racking her brain for the answer, "…do you know I have absolutely no idea? It was just something my mother used to say, I think her mother taught it to her."

"A lot of help you are," Naomi said disappointedly. "I hate not knowing the answer to something."

"Sorry," Emily said laying down again and snuggling into Dog's fur, "why don't you look it up in that book of yours?"

"It mentions them," Naomi said caressing the time worn cover through the waterproof cloth; "but it doesn't explain what they are. When you mentioned them it suddenly occurred to me that you might know."

She yawned heavily and placed the book back into her pack.

"Come to bed Naomi," Emily said drowsily, "it's late and I'm exhausted so you can't feel much better."

Naomi pushed her bag away from her and placed a few more large logs into the fire, hoping that they would keep it burning through the night and into the morning. Carefully she eased herself under the covers, pushing her coat down the blankets until it covered her feet, the one part of her body she never seemed to be able to get properly warm. As she leaned over to stroke Dog her hand met Emily's and she allowed it to rest there for a second before she moved it away; to her surprise as she did so, Emily's hand took hold of hers and squeezed it gently before releasing the tension, but not her hand itself.

"Goodnight Naoms," Emily said holding her hand firmly as if she would never let it go.

"Goodnight Ems," Naomi replied, "sweet dreams."

Dog lay awake in that tiny room, his two favourite people in all the world lying on either side of him. He could feel their arms on his flanks where they had both sought to hold him and he felt warm at the inclusion. He was happy to be a part of Naomi's and his little family, and happier still that Emily had now joined them. He knew that his mistress was far happier with Emily around than she had been when it had been just the two of them; and as much as he missed it being just him and Naomi, he loved the small girl that he had sensed approaching their camp one cold and stormy night. As Dog lay between the girls, he could feel their hands clenching and unclenching as they slept; feel the tensing of the muscles in their arms as, unconsciously, each of them sought the reassurance that the other was still there. Dog stared into the firelight, his golden eyes warm at the thought that he had been right all along; that these two deserved to be together, needed to be together and he revelled in the thought that he had made it happen. As Dog laid his head on his paws and settled down to sleep, his tail wagged happily at that memory.

He'd done his part, the rest was up to them.

o+o+o

The night went by without incident, or indeed activity. Naomi had risen at some point during the darkness, woken from her dreams by Dog getting up to begin another silent patrol of their surroundings. It was something she knew he always did, and something she was always grateful for; the reassurance that he was there and looking out for her whilst she slept allowing her to truly relax.

Easing herself out of the blankets, trying not to disturb the sleeping Emily, Naomi silently padded over to the dying fire and, keeling in front of it, built it up once more; carefully laying branches onto the still burning embers and blowing until it burst into life once more. She sat back on her ankles and sighed, holding out her hands to the glowing warmth. She sat and stared into the flames as if hypnotised, moving only when Dog appeared back in the room, walking over and sitting next to her.

"Everything ok boy?" she whispered slipping an arm around his furry shoulders. Dog responded by licking her face, Naomi grinning and pushing him away half-heartedly as he did so.

"Stop that you," she whispered amused, "I'll take that as a yes shall I?"

She buried her face into the big dog's fur and snuggled him tightly, looking past him to the sleeping girl, the other side of their triangle.

"Is this ok boy?" she whispered as she stared, fascinated, at Emily's prone figure, curled up into a ball with one hand stretched out across their sleeping area, fingers twitching involuntarily. "Is it ok to want her to be with us?" Dog answered with a pleased wag of his tail, something Naomi took as a positive.

"You would say that," she whispered hugging him tightly, "you're a big old softy."

They sat together for a while, warming themselves by the fire and re-establishing their close relationship, friends above all else. After a while Dog stood and licked Naomi's cheek, walking away from her and flopping on the bedding next to Emily who wrapped her arm around him almost instinctively.

"I get the hint Dog," Naomi said quietly, responding to the look in his eyes as he turned his head to stare at her. "I'll be there in a second." It amused her sometimes that she talked to Dog like this, like he understood exactly what she said. What was even funnier, she thought as he stared unblinkingly back at her, was that she was sure that he absolutely did.

o+o+o

The morning came late to the two girls, exhaustion causing them to sleep later than perhaps they had intended. The fire had burnt down again when Naomi opened her eyes, and the room they had been sleeping in had an uncomfortable chill to it.

"Jesus it's cold," she heard muttered from behind her and rolled over to see a pair of brown eyes blinking at her drowsily.

"Morning," Emily said pulling the bedding around herself tightly, "it's cold."

"Yeah," Naomi replied, "The fire's almost out; I think these walls might have more holes than stones in them."

Their fine looking farmhouse wasn't looking so good to Naomi as the morning light streamed in from a dozen gaps in the walls and roof. There was a definite chill in the air and it made Naomi reluctant to move.

"Well build it up then," Emily said from underneath the blankets, twisting over so Naomi was exposed to the cold air, "now you're up you might as well."

"You witch!" Naomi exclaimed as the cold air hit her body and she tugged on the bedding hard in an attempt to dislodge Emily who put up a very good fight. In the end it was Dog that interrupted them, bursting into the room barking at them and jumping around as they struggled for control of the blankets. Laughing hard Naomi sat up to find him bundling towards her, knocking her backwards playfully.

"Ganging up on me Dog," she said pushing him away and tugging on the blankets once more , "no fair, you're supposed to be on my side."

Their curious three way struggle continued for another few minutes before Naomi gave up, Emily's grip being too tight for her to release; she was feeling much warmer already as a result of their play fight and knew that she really did need to get up. Days were short at this time of the year and she wanted to make the most of the daylight.

Pausing only to build up the fire once more, Naomi grabbed her coat from where it had fallen and stepped outside the building. She was met with a blanket of pristine white snow, wherever she could see the ground and trees were covered. Whilst it looked magical, Naomi knew that it wasn't a good sign; either it was later in the year than she had estimated, or winter had come frighteningly early. Either way she prayed to the Gods that this place would give them somewhere they could survive the winter from, if the snows continued like this they would have little other choice.

"Pretty," Emily said stepping out of the doorway, a blanket draped around her shoulders. "I always loved it when it snowed, father would take us sleddin."

"Sleddin?" Naomi asked, wondering what strange activity the townsfolk would do when faced with snow.

"Yeah, we'd climb to the top of a hill and slide down it; it was so much fun."

"Doesn't sound it," Naomi said not convinced. "Sounds like it would hurt."

"We had things to slide on Naomi," Emily replied smiling at the other girls ignorance. "We had sleds, that's why it was called sleddin."

"Oh, we never did anything like that," Naomi said. "When I was young we used to throw snow at each other, and then sometimes, if it was really cold, the other children used to go sliding on the ice of the village pond."

"Did you never play in the snow?" Emily asked sadly. She loved and hated hearing Naomi talk about her life in the village. Some of her stories were filled her with joy, others filled her with dismay; as she realised how much of a childhood Naomi had missed out on.

"Not really," the tall girl replied pulling her coat around herself tighter and pulling her hat down further on her head. "by the time I was old enough to do many of the things the others could, I was expected to work to eat. I used to watch them though, playing on the pond as I shovelled out the barns. I always wanted to join in, but it wasn't my place."

Naomi's eyes went distant for a second as the memories of those times flooded back, a single tear ran down her cheek to fall onto the floor, melting the snow where it fell before disappearing forever. Her mind ran through images of the children she had once called friends playing in the snow until she was snapped from her dreams by a cold, wet feeling running down her neck.

"You little shit!" she shouted at the giggling Emily who had run around the side of the building after she dumped the snow down her collar. "I'll kill you for that!"

"Only if you can catch me Naoms," Emily shouted back, her voice ringing true in the crisp cold morning. Naomi ran around the side of the building after her friend, only to be hit in the chest with a ball of snow.

"Come play snowballs with me Naomi," Emily shouted, scooping another handful of snow from the floor, cupping it in her hands and hurling it towards her. "Live a little!"

Naomi smiled, Emily's enthusiasm was infectious and with a whoop of pure joy she bent down and plunged her bare hands into the cold snow, scooping up a ball and throwing it at her opponent. Within seconds a full scale war had began, and Dog had appeared to join in, trying to snatch the snowballs out of the air as the girls threw them at each other and him.

It wasn't long before they called a truce, their hands red and numb. Still laughing they retreated back into the shelter of the building and huddled together by the fire, sharing the warmth; still laughing at their own stupidity.

"Oh God that was fun," Emily said holding her splayed fingers towards the fire.

"It was very stupid of us," Naomi replied, attempting to be serious for a second and failing miserably; laughing at the old fashioned look that Emily gave her. "It was fun though, you're right," she conceded. "Even if it is going to take all day to get my collar dry."

"What _is_ the plan for the day then Naomi?" Emily asked when she finally felt warm. "You said last night that you wanted to explore."

"I think we're going to have to Ems," Naomi replied taking a deep breath. "If the weather stays like this we might not be able to move on."

"You mean we might have to stay here? What about heading for civilisation? I thought that was what we were going to do."

"It is, or at least it was," Naomi said hearing the disappointment in Emily's voice, knowing how much she had been longing to get back to something approximating the life that she once knew; her heart breaking slightly as the sound. "We've got to be realistic though, we can't travel in conditions like this Emily, we might not survive a week out there if it stays like this or gets worse. We'd freeze to death."

Emily sagged against her, resting her head on Naomi's shoulder, her arms falling defeatedly to her sides. "This is all my fault isn't it?" she said sadly. "I'm sorry Naomi, I know you wanted to get a lot further before you had to stop for winter, if you hadn't agreed to help me you'd be all right, not stuck in the middle of nowhere with an incompetent like me."

"No Ems," Naomi said quickly realising that what she had heard in Emily's voice wasn't disappointment but guilt. "It's not like that at all."

"That's very kind of you Naomi, but I know I've slowed you up, and I know I've been a burden to you along the way. It's quite clear that I'm the one that's got us stuck here, and if we die here it'll be my fault."

"Die?" Naomi said, wrapping an arm around Emily's shoulders and squeezing gently. "Who said anything about dying? We've got shelter, trees, water, there's things around here to hunt and there's bound to be plenty of vegetation under the snow. This wouldn't be such a bad place to get stuck if it came down to it."

She looked around the ramshackle building, noting the holes in the walls and the collapsing roof. "We could even make this place a half decent place to live if we needed to," she said cheerfully. "Fucking hell I know it's not a palace, but it's better now than some of the places I've lived, a couple of days work and even this place could be great."

"It's better than that place with a wall deficiency and no fucking roof." Emily said, smiling once more, reassured by her friends confidence.

"Look will you leave that alone," Naomi said faking indignation, but secretly quite pleased that she had managed to lift Emily's mood. "It was only the once, everywhere else we've stopped has been better than that."

"Yeah, cause those rocks we camped at were so fucking comfortable, and that fallen tree we slept under, and…"

"Ok, Ok!" Naomi said removing her arm from around her friend and getting up. "I get it, I've picked some crap places for us to sleep along the way."

"Actually," Emily said, taking the offered hand and allowing Naomi to pull her to her feet, "you've always picked some great places for us to sleep, better than any I could have chosen anyway." Emily slipped her arms around the waist of her friend and hugged her tightly.

"I'd have been dead if it wasn't for you."

"You'd have been dead if it wasn't for Dog you mean."

"Yeah him too."

o+o+o

"Naomi, tell me again why I have a pocket full of worms?"

"Because."

"Because what?"

"Because I need bait for my lines."

"…and? That doesn't explain why I'm the one with the worms."

"…and? And you're the one with them because I don't want to have a pocket full of worms myself; dirty horrible things they are."

Emily stopped her digging in the frozen ground and stared back at Naomi in disgust, only to find blue eyes staring back, a hint of mirth in them.

"Oh you fucking bitch," Emily said realising she'd been had. "I can't believe you did that."

"Call it payback for the snow down my neck this morning." Naomi replied laughing at Emily's face. "Besides, I do need worms for this," she said holding up the length of string she was holding up.

"What is that you've been making?" Emily asked, her curiosity overcoming her bruised ride.

"Long lines," Naomi replied, tying a rock to one end. "My friend the Smith taught me how to make them once, showed me how to make hooks from m'al if you had it and wood if you didn't. It's not very efficient, but if you bait them well you can often catch something."

"Fish? You think there are fish in that river?"

"I know there are fish in there Ems," Naomi replied confidently, "look."

She carefully led Emily over to the icy riverbank and pointed out onto the still water. "See there? See the ripples?"

"What, where the drips are landing?" Emily said squinting at the rings that appeared on the water where Naomi's finger was pointing.

"There _are_ no drips Ems," Naomi explained patiently, "those ripples are a sure-fire sign that there are fish down there."

"How so?" Emily asked, stepping back from the edge slowly.

"Dunno really, I just know it means fish are there. So you need to bait these hooks with your worms and then we can get this in the water and see what we can catch."

Five, unpleasantly squelchy minutes later, Emily had baited the hooks under Naomi's watchful gaze, feeling all the time like she would actually prefer to jump into the freezing cold water herself, rather than have to handle the wriggling, dirty creatures for a second longer.

"Tie this to your wrist," Naomi said handing Emily the lose end of her contraption before easing her way to the edge of the bank. "Ready?"

Emily finished tying the string to her wrist and nodded, planting her feet into the ground carefully, bracing herself for what was to come.

"Here goes nothing," Naomi shouted and threw the rock out into the centre of the water, it's long line, with dangling baited lines hanging off it, flying out into the river in a graceful arc behind it.

"So am I supposed to stand here for the rest of the day?" Emily asked holding up her wrist.

"Only if you want to freeze your backside off," Naomi replied climbing back up towards her, sliding on the ice and nearly falling into the river much to Emily's amusement.

"What do you suggest then, oh sure footed one?" Emily joked as Naomi laboured her way up to her.

"I'd suggest tying it to that tree."

Naomi pointed at a tree on the bank who's branches bent and drooped towards the water. Moment later Emily had looped the string around a sturdy branch, the line resting at a shallow angle into the water.

"What do we do now?" she said, following Naomi and Dog back towards their shelter.

"We come back in the morning, see if we've caught anything. In the meantime, lets find somewhere better to shelter for the night."

"..or the winter?" Emily said pulling off her mask and sticking out her tongue; catching the falling snowflakes on it.

"…or the winter!" Naomi agreed.

o+o+o

"What about this place?" Emily said, poking about in the doorway of a building.

"It's built all wrong," Naomi replied. "This grey rock is too weak now, see?" She hit it with a stone and it crumbled under the blow, pulverised in an instant.

"We had buildings made out of that at home Naomi, it was ok."

"I'd rather not risk it Ems," Naomi replied simply, "Let's keep looking."

They walked around the town for the rest of the day, arguing good naturedly about the choices they faced for places to stay. The sun was dipping dangerously close to the horizon when they came upon the house.

"That might just do," Naomi said, looking at the lone building on the outskirts of the town.

"That might just be perfect," Emily replied looking at the two storey building with undisguised hunger.

"Shall we take a look?" Naomi asked, only to find that she was too late, Emily's figure already covering the ground towards the door. She heard Emily whistle loudly through the mouthpiece of her mask and smiled as Dog bounded across the fields towards them both.

"Come _on_ Naomi," Emily yelled standing on the grass with her hands on her hips. "Get a move on, it's getting late."

o+o+o

The fire was roaring as Naomi and Emily settled down into their new home; the building had been better than they could have even dreamed. The upper storey of the building was in poor condition, but Naomi declared the roof as sound and the lower floors were warm and comfortable once they had lit a large fire in the freshly cleared hearth.

"This is much better," Emily said sitting down on one of the stools that they had scavenged from one of the other rooms. This place really does feel like home now."

"Your home?" Naomi asked, suddenly curious about the place where Emily used to live.

"No silly," Emily said looking across at her friend and her dog where they lay stretched out in front of the fire looking to all intents and purposes totally asleep, eyes closed and content. "Our home, our home for the winter anyway."

"Yeah," Naomi said sleepily, "does that mean we're staying Ems?"

"Do you think we could make it though the Winter here Naomi? I mean, could we make it though to Spring?"

"Ems we could make it through the second 'Great Ending' here," Naomi said yawning heavily. "A few days work setting up some snares and some fish traps to catch some food, a bit of work sealing up this place a bit better and we'll be good."

"Then I guess that means we're staying then Naoms, I'm sick of walking, I'm sick of being cold. I could really do with a bit of home comforts like these. Perhaps we could spend a day scavenging around this place, get hold of some stuff to make things more comfortable you know? After we've got the food things sorted of course. Maybe you could teach me to read, find some books or something; perhaps you could teach me to write as well, I've always wanted to be able to write…"

Emily's voice tailed off as she realised that her friend wasn't answering at all, glancing over to see her chest rising and falling evenly as she slept. She eased herself up from the stool and walked over to their packs, pulling Naomi's sleeping roll from it's holder and laying it over her friend, putting the extra blanket over the feet she knew Naomi always complained were cold.

As she looked down on the sleeping girl, Emily felt something that she hadn't felt for anyone other than her father before, love.

She felt an overwhelming love for the girl and her dog that had rescued her, saved her, and gave her a reason to go on; a powerful family love, a sense of belonging, a sense of something that was just…right.

As she settled down in front of the fire, sipping at the bowl of meat broth that Naomi had brewed from some of their dinner leftovers, she listened to the quiet mutterings of her friend and the noisy snores of Dog and relaxed. For the first time since her family had told her their decision, and cast her out as a slave, Emily felt completely relaxed, completely at home, completely at peace.

o+o+o

Naomi woke to a wonderful feeling, one that she hadn't felt for what felt like months, warmth.

She also realised that she was alone, the familiar presences of Dog and now Emily not lying next to her; quickly she sat up and looked around herself, only to see Emily tossing chunks of meat to Dog in the adjoining room.

"Morning sleepy," Emily said as she spotted Naomi getting up. "Want something to eat?"

Naomi nodded and pulled herself free of the blankets that covered her. "How long have you been awake?"

"Long enough," Emily replied ripping meat from the cold haunch of deer and placing it into Naomi's bowl. She walked over to Naomi's cooking pot that was sat on the edges of their fire and spooned out some of the hot liquid; pouring it over the meat to warm it, before offering it to her.

"Thanks," Naomi said tucking in hungrily. "You have been busy this morning."

"I couldn't sleep," Emily said sitting down on the stool. "I've been up and down all night so I thought I'd make myself useful, you always seem to do everything so I thought I'd try and keep the fire going and keep Dog amused while you slept."

"Where did you get the wood from?" Naomi asked curiously.

"I went scavenging around the house, I found a log pile out back and there was wood scattered around it. This place seems untouched, it's nothing like the other places we've stayed at."

"Well that's our good fortune then," Naomi said chewing on a chunk of meat thoughtfully. "This place might be a Gods-send, if it hasn't been stripped totally bare; we should go scavenging and see what we can find."

Emily smiled shyly and said nothing, Naomi spotted it almost instantly.

"What?" she asked putting her bowl to her lips and draining it off in one go.

"Nothing," Emily replied, "it's just I suggested doing that last night, but you'd fallen asleep already."

"Oh, I don't remember doing that Ems," Naomi said guiltily. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be," Emily said quickly, "you obviously needed it."

"I guess I did; it's been a hard year."

"Yeah," Emily agreed sadly. "Yeah, it really has."

o+o+o

After breakfast Naomi showed Emily how to make their fire safe, carefully stacking the large logs Emily has selected into a pile that would burn without toppling. "You have to make sure they can't fall out of your circle," she said indicating the pile of rubble she had placed in front of the hearth. "That way they won't burn our new hut down."

"House," Emily corrected absently.

"What?"

"House Naomi, this isn't a hut it's a house."

"Whatever you say Ems," Naomi said standing, "compared to what I'm used to, what it really is, is a fucking _palace_."

"Naomi," Emily said screwing up her face in her best 'I'm confused' face. "What the fuck is a palace?"

"Oh for fucks sake!"

o+o+o

The rest of the morning was spent scavenging around the ruined buildings, looking for anything that would make their winter more comfortable. Naomi was surprised to find that there was a fair amount of useful stuff lying around simply for the taking in the town, as if it had never been discovered and stripped clean.

"Is this normal?" Emily asked as Naomi gushed girlishly over a large metal pan that she had found in a broken cupboard in a broken down house.

"Not where I come from Ems," the girl replied. "But then there aren't that many places like this where I come from. My village was pretty much in the middle of nowhere, anywhere I found after I escaped had been emptied."

"Why was that?"

"Dunno," Naomi said shrugging, "I guess it's because people did what we're doing and went scavenging. Everything we had was reused, the Smith got very excited when I came across something he called a 'car' in the woods, made me this knife in payment for everything I could bring back."

She held up her machete, it's curved blade seeming to Emily like an extension of her arm as it curved away from her wrist wickedly. Emily could easily imagine Naomi slicing the wrist off her childhood tormentor with it, she could easily imagine her taking someone's head if she wanted, like she thought Naomi was going to do to her the night they had met.

"I wish someone had given me a blade like that," Emily said ruefully, "I might have been able to have threatened Katie with it, or used it to escape from the caravan sooner; or…or anything really."

"It might have got you killed Ems," Naomi said, "if you don't know how to use it."

"Teach me then, I might find something in the rubble, wouldn't that be cool?"

"Yeah," Naomi said doubtfully; despite their luck, she knew that the chances of finding something as useful as a blade here was slim to none.

They began the process of dragging their finds back to the house. They had found two heavy m'al cooking pots that were still in good condition; Naomi deciding that they had probably only been left because they were too heavy to carry when the inhabitants fled the town. They'd also found wooden chairs that seemed in good condition and some tables that they knew they could use, if for no other reason to block up the holes in the walls where impressive glass windows had once been.

Their new possessions safely tucked away in the room, Naomi went back to the river to check their lines. Disappointingly they had only caught two small fish on their long trailing lines, and one of them had been bitten in half by something larger. To Emily's surprise Naomi had seen this as something positive and cut up their catch and used it to bait the larger of their hooks before returning their line to the water.

"Hope for better tomorrow Ems, if we get a good catch we might be able to smoke them somewhere here."

"Why would we smoke them?" Emily asked, thinking back to her father and the wood carved pipe that he filled with special grass to relax him after a long days work.

"It preserves them for longer, might be useful in case times get hard."

"Oh, I thought you meant smoke them smoke them." She said, miming her fathers actions with the pipe.

Naomi laughed at that, not in a manner that offended Emily, not in a way that said that she was ridiculing her; but laughed in a way that simply showed her amusement. After a few seconds Emily joined in, realising how silly her confusion was; and they teased each other about it, off and on, for the next few hours.

They checked the snares that Naomi had showed Emily to set on the disturbed ground near a hole in an earth bank on the edge of a field. To Emily's delight they found the corpses of two fat rabbits in her traps and she collected them delightedly and carefully reset her nooses.

"Earned my keep for the day then," she said proudly holding up the two coneys by their ears.

"Certainly did Ems," Naomi said with almost as much pride as Emily felt. "Who'd have thought it? We'll make a hunter of you yet."

They cut long grass from the fields after clearing the snow, and branches from hedgerows; carrying everything back to their home and stacking it in the damaged room that they had no intention of using, one wall crumbling to the floor allowing the weather to enter. As the sun was getting low, Naomi called a halt to their exertions.

"We should get back and get sorted Ems," she said whistling Dog who was running around the field they were in like a puppy. "There will be plenty of time to dig around here over the winter. We don't have to do everything at once."

"One last thing Naoms," Emily said plaintively, "will you give me a hand with something I saw in a building?"

She led the grumbling Naomi to a building, it's battered sign above the door only having three letters left of whatever word it once spelt. _'TEL'_ Naomi wondered, _'I wonder what this place was?'_

Emily led her through the ruin to a large object lying on its side on the floor. It had obviously once been white, but now seemed completely covered in centuries of grime and moss. It had holes in various places and didn't look like much to Naomi's eye, but Emily seemed ecstatically interested in it and, with much grumbling on Naomi's part, the girls managed to carry it back to their new home.

"I hope this is something fucking important Ems," Naomi grumbled as they put it in the damaged room; "because my back is killing me."

"Oh shush," Emily said, looking on her find with pride, tapping it happily with a knuckle and listening to the resounding chime. "You'll love it when I get it sorted I promise."

As Naomi went about sorting out their fire and food for the night, Emily stayed in the room, scraping at the object to remove the dirt, running outside and carrying in snow to help her. After they had eaten, Naomi sat by the fire to weave the branches they had cut into a rough approximation of the fish traps she had seen in her village, only swearing occasionally as the wood snapped or stuck into her hand, Emily vanished again labouring at her cleaning until she wandered back into their 'living room' looking tired but triumphant.

"Nettle tea?" Naomi asked as she flopped down in front of the fire and warmer her hands.

"Yeah please, that would be lovely."

Naomi picked up one of the white cups they had found in a box in the ruins of the town, and dipped it into one of the heavy pots, scooping out the water she had infused with the nettle leaves she'd found by the river. Emily took a long gulp before spitting the liquid into the corner of the room.

"Fuck, that's disgusting," she said staring at her cup in horror.

"Yeah, it is a bit of an acquired taste," Naomi said smiling and sipping her own drink as Emily braced herself and took another mouthful. "Finished out there?"

"No, not quite," Emily said grimacing as she drank. "It's clean now at least, I just need to sort out a few bits when it's light and then I'll need your help to move it."

"Are you going to tell me what you're doing?" Naomi asked, trying to sound indifferent about it, even though her curiosity was raging.

"Not until I'm ready," Emily said, "it's a surprise."

"It better be worth all this effort," Naomi said suspiciously.

"Believe me Naoms, it will be," Emily said dreamily.

o+o+o

The next day saw the girls performing the same activities as the previous day. Whilst it was light they had several priorities that they split up amongst them. Naomi went to check on their fishing line, removing their catch of three small fish and one large one with wickedly sharp teeth that had obviously been tempted by the fish tail bait that Naomi had used the day before. Smiling at her prize, Naomi re-baited and reset her line, tossing the rock back out into the freezing water.

She filled her water skins, wishing that their new home was closer to the water, and vowed to find some way of collecting the snow and rain that fell onto the buildings if she could; having seen this trick when she had walked through the town called Oxen Ford on her journey west. Tucking her fish into her netting kill-bag she walked back to the house, longing for the warmth of the fire to heat her frozen feet and wondering how Emily was getting on.

The answer, in fact, wasn't great. Emily had gone to check their snares, finding one empty and the other one missing. Cursing at their misfortune she pulled another of the string nooses out of her pocket and re-set her traps. It was just as well they'd been successful the previous day she thought, today was not a good day's hunt.

On her way back to the house she noticed some large flat rocks and, realising that Naomi had not yet returned, went about transporting the rocks to the spare room; and, placing them into position on the floor, carefully dug a shallow trench between them with Naomi's shovel

"What you doing now Ems?" the familiar voice called out making Emily jump. She turned around to see Naomi standing against the collapsed doorway, Dog sat by her ankles.

"About time you got back," Emily said, "here give me a hand with this."

Naomi placed her catch on the table in their 'living room' and helped Emily lift the object over the pit, resting on the stones. Emily shovelled the dirt around the stones and stamped on it with her boot, packing it in carefully as Naomi looked on amused. Finally, Emily shook the object to make sure it was firm and stood back happily. "There," she said grinning wildly at her work. "Sorted."

"Emily would you mind telling me why you've done all this work?" Naomi asked looking at the strange contraption in confusion; "and why you've dug a hole in the floor.

"Yes I would," Emily said happily, "I've told you you'll have to wait, it's a surprise."

"Whatever makes you happy Ems," Naomi replied resignedly, changing the subject. "How were the traps?"

"Empty," Emily admitted sadly, "and one of them was gone."

"Sounds like something bigger than a rabbit used that trail then," Naomi said nodding to herself. "We might need to try a bigger trap sometime."

Naomi looked at Emily who was staring out of the window at the snow covered fields. "It's ok Ems," she said comfortingly, "there's plenty of food out there, and we caught some fish today. We won't starve if that's what you're thinking."

Emily ignored her before shaking her head and turning back to see Naomi looking at her expectantly.

"Sorry what?" she said noticing the look.

"Nothing Ems," Naomi said smiling and shaking her head. "Nothing at all."

Naomi told Dog firmly to stay with Emily and went off with her bow to hunt, the day was drawing to a close and she wanted to see if the dusk light would bring out some animals, something else to go into the pot. She caught sight of a deer in the distance, but it fled when she stepped on a branch concealed beneath the white snow. Resigned to failure she made her way back to the house.

It was the fire that made her begin to run, not the nice neat fire that she had taught Emily to make in the hearth, the controllable fire that gave them heat and light and very little danger. No, this was nothing like that, this was a wide bright fire that lit up the damaged side of the house with a hot glow.

"EMILY! DOG!" Naomi yelled as she ran towards the building, crossing the ground with broad steps. To her relief she heard an answering bark from the house and Dog came bounding out towards her.

"EMILY!"

Naomi yelled again, as Dog bounced around her excitedly, and was surprised to hear an answering "WHAT?" issue from the house. What surprised her was the total lack of panic in the voice and the fact that Emily appeared in the doorway of the burning room looking out at her as she approached.

"What you shouting about Naoms? And why were you running?"

"Dog…you…fire," Naomi panted out as she pulled to a halt in front of Emily, Dog barking at her as she bent double her hands on her knees.

"What?" Emily asked, placing her hand on Naomi's heaving shoulders.

"I saw the fire," Naomi started, breathing in and out quickly.

"Yes?"

"…and I thought you both were in danger," she finished.

"Aw," Emily said, "so you came running. I'm sorry Naoms, I was getting my surprise ready."

"Your surprise involves burning down the house?"

"No Naomi, my surprise involves heating up a fuckload of water."

Emily led Naomi into the room where she saw a fire in the trench that Emily had dug under the object that they had dragged over to the house, an object that was now filled with water, water that was steaming slightly in the chilly evening air.

"This Naomi, is a baff," Emily exclaimed, "well it's not really; not a proper one, but it will do. We can get clean and get warm and everything."

Naomi stared at the white 'baff' with it's warming water with curiosity. She walked over and placed her fingers into the water, drawing them out when she realised that it was very warm indeed.

"Is the idea to cook yourself Emily?" she asked suspiciously.

"No Naomi, the idea is to heat the water then get in it and bathe."

"It'll boil if you keep the fire under it, and you along with it." Naomi said firmly, walking through the house into the 'living room' and taking off her wet coat, prodding the fire with a stick and stoking it to life to warm the room.

"I'll put out the fire once it's ready," Emily said appearing in the doorway. "We won't boil."

"_You_ won't boil," Naomi replied adamantly. "I don't want anything to do with that thing out there; a stream or pond, when it's warm enough to swim, is good enough for me."

"Well if you're sure," Emily said staring at her friend.

"I'm sure." Naomi replied warming her hands.

"What's the matter Naomi?"

"Nothing's the matter, I just don't want to get soaking wet in the middle of fucking winter, and die of the pnu or something."

Emily stared at her, not missing the fact that she kept her back firmly towards her, and when she did look around she never met her eyes.

"That's not why you're angry Naoms," Emily said carefully, her voice sad and low trying not to aggravate the situation. "Please tell me what's up?"

"You fucking scared me all right? Dog, _you_ and Dog, you're the only things I have in my fucking life right now, and I thought you were trapped in that fucking fire."

Emily stared into Naomi's troubled eyes and saw genuine hurt and fear there. She thought, for a second, about how close Naomi and Dog were; how inseparable they had been since she had met them, how in sync they seemed to be. She felt terribly guilty that she had scared Naomi, scared her into thinking that her friend and companion was trapped and possibly dead. There was a tear in her eye when she apologised for making her think that Dog was in trouble.

"You _and_ Dog, Emily," Naomi said softly, staring into the flames her arm around her companions shoulders, squeezing as she mentioned him. "You're both part of my life right now, I was worried about both of you."

Emily sat down next to her friend and slipped and arm around Naomi's waist squeezing Naomi as gently as Naomi had squeezed Dog.

"I'm really sorry Naoms," she said resting her head on Naomi's shoulder; "honestly I had no idea that I would have scared you that much; I just didn't think."

"It's ok Ems," Naomi said relaxing for the first time since she had returned and resting her own head on Emily's. "I probably overreacted you know? It's just, well, Dog and I have been through a lot together; and I've got used to having you around as well."

Naomi smiled ruefully and turned her head to see the same smile on Emily's face. With almost painful casualness, she reached out with her free arm and wrapped it around Emily's shoulders. Thus 'crucified' by her companions she pulled them both tightly towards her, shaking her head.

"Put this behind us?" Naomi suggested to Emily as Dog attempted to climb onto her lap. Emily nodded happily, her lips pursed together, the faintest hint of a smile on her face. She knew it was the closest to an apology that she was likely to get, or deserve, from Naomi for her reaction to Emily's actions.

"I think I'm going to turn in Ems," Naomi said softly. "I think I've had enough excitement for the night. Enjoy your baff."

"I think I'll join you Naoms," Emily said easing herself to her feet. "I'll go and put my fire out."

"What about your baff?" Naomi asked watching as Emily made her way to the doorway.

"Oh that can wait until tomorrow Naoms, let's face it, it's not as if we're going anywhere in a hurry is it?"

She smiled and spun on her toes, leaving Naomi and Dog alone. "No," Naomi replied to her disappearing back. "No, Ems it's not."

o+o+o

The next day the girls woke early to get their chores done as soon as they could. Fish were bagged and traps were checked; wood was collected and buildings were searched for things that could be used. They had evolved into a finely tuned team over the days and weeks that they had been together, and in what seemed like no time their work was complete. Naomi was sitting at a table gutting the fish that she had caught , tossing the innards onto a piece of tree bark to be used to bait a trap, when Emily walked in holding a large rabbit, it's head lolling, it's neck broken.

"Good work," Naomi said smiling, "now you need to learn how to treat it." She tossed a carefully wrapped object, she had removed from her pack earlier, to Emily who nearly dropped her prize in her attempt to catch it.

"What's this?" Emily asked, juggling the things in her hands before dropping them both on their table; the cloth wrapped 'present' landing with a heavy thump.

"Open it and find out," Naomi said trying to sound nonchalant as Emily carefully unfolded the rag that she had secreted her present in.

Emily's eyes went wide as the cloth revealed the knife that the cloth had hidden. It was a beautiful object Emily thought as she wrapped her hand around the worn wooden haft.

"Its lovely," Emily said staring across at her smiling friend, "is this for me?"

"Well I've got three, including this one, and you really do need a knife to survive out here." Naomi replied, reaching underneath her and pulling a roughly sewn sheath she had made in secret, hiding what she was doing as patchwork on her jumper, and tossing it over to Emily.

"But this is a wonderful thing," Emily said hefting the knife, getting a feel for its weight. "You can't give this to me, It must be worth a fortune to you in trade."

"I'm never going to use it Ems," Naomi told her, scratching Dog who was looking on with interest. "and I couldn't bring myself to trade it, so I've been carrying it with me ever since. I think its fitting that you get some use out of it. Dog and I want you to have it."

"Are you sure?" Emily asked slipping the blade into the sheath.

"Positive."

"Are _you_ sure Dog?" Emily asked smiling, Dog barked at his name and wagged his tail. Emily took that as a good sign. Two steps later she had wrapped Naomi up in a tight hug, kissing her cheek affectionately.

"Ems, get off," Naomi said embarrassed at the affection, "I've been gutting fish, I probably stink."

"It's ok Naoms, once you've shown me how to prepare this rabbit with my knife, I'm going to have a nice hot baff as a treat."

o+o+o

Naomi was back at work on her fish trap when she heard the sound of singing from what Emily was now referring to as the 'baffroom'. She wove the freshly cut branches in and out of the rough frame that had caused her so much frustration previously, her good mood making everything so much better.

She paused for a second and listened to the happy sounds that were filling their home and smiled. Emily was singing an old ballad that her mother used to sing to her and she was filled with nostalgia at the sound.

"She's got a good voice hasn't she mate?" Naomi said to Dog, noticing his twitching ears. Dog turned his head to face her, his tongue hanging out. "Yeah, I thought so too."

"NAOMI!" Emily yelled, destroying the image in Naomi's head. "CAN YOU COME IN HERE PLEASE?"

Naomi, got to her feet and walked into the room, almost choking on the heavy water filled air.

"What's up?" she asked as she walked up to the baff and revealing the naked girl, half covered by the steaming water.

"I forgot my blanket, could you get it for me so I can get dry please?"

"Sure," Naomi said walking back into the 'living room' and picking up one of the blankets that Emily had washed and dried in front of the fire earlier. She looked down at Dog as the singing started again.

"Good voice," she said to Dog again as she hefted the blanket over her shoulder; "better tits though."

Dog wagged his tail as Naomi left the room on her errand, he was pleased by this turn of events, very pleased indeed.

o+o+o

The pattern of their days continued through the weeks as the winter deepened and the snow fell more heavily over their little vale. With their immediate requirements for food, water and shelter satisfied, the girls found more time for other activities; and exploring and hunting became an enjoyable part of their day. Their evenings were spent quietly, once the light from the sun had set they busied themselves, by the light of their fires, preparing their evening meal and relaxing. With nothing else to do they would tell stories that they had heard or made up on the spot. It became a challenge to entertain each other during those long dark nights and, when inspiration was lacking they would recount tales of their past to each other.

"That's sad," Emily said as Naomi finished the tale of the 'Bread Maker and the Grain Thief', a story she had heard told by her father in a room, far smaller than the one in which she sat, so many years before. "So the thief was really a mouse and yet the boy was punished for stealing the grain."

"That's the point Ems," Naomi said waving her spork side to side as she spoke. "The more I think about that story the more I think it's a lesson for us all, you know? Don't be quick to accuse and don't be even quicker to judge."

"How do you mean?" Emily asked, enchanted by the passion that suddenly seemed to spring from Naomi.

"The Smith called it injustice," Naomi explained, "he said that it was the responsibility of the Chief Elder to act with justice, provide fairness to everyone and to make sure that the weak were protected from the strong."

"But that doesn't sound like what happened to you," Emily said annoyed at the memory of Naomi telling her about her eviction from her home. "It was hardly fair when they made you live in the stables for want of a warm place to sleep."

"No," Naomi agreed sadly, "nor when your family decide to sell you to make their lives better. That wasn't fair either."

"No, not at all."

"I hate injustices like that Ems," Naomi said sombrely, the mood in their home suddenly chill despite the roaring fires. "I think more people should listen to the words of the storytellers, learn from the tales that they tell."

Naomi paused for a second, trying to put into words the things that she had thought about as she walked the country, just her and Dog.

"Stories are alive," she stated confidently, deciding on her approach. "Stories are there to teach us how to live. Take that bread maker, he was a greedy man filled with hate for the boy that he thought wanted to play and not earn his way. So he poisoned the village against him and eventually had him cast out to survive on his own."

"But he got his comeuppance," Emily replied thinking about the end of the story. "The mouse brought its friends and they stole all his grain and he went hungry."

"He did," Naomi said excitedly, "and that's the point of the story. He acted without fairness or justice and eventually he was made to pay. That's why I think people should learn the stories and learn from them."

"So you're saying that the stories you heard from your father are morality tales?"

"They're what?" Naomi asked, never having heard the term before.

"Morality tales, stories about how we should behave," Emily explained slowly, trying to formulate her thoughts in her head.

"Dad used to talk about them," she said finally. "He sold a book of Faery Tales to a traveller once, I overheard them from the back when the spoke. They were discussing that the stories were more than fun, more than just entertainment; that they served a purpose to teach people about what he called morality, I think that meant how we are supposed to behave."

"I'd have loved to have spoken with your father."

"Perhaps you will," Emily said, "perhaps you'll pass through where we lived and meet him on your travels. You might even meet my whole family." Emily smiled sadly as she imagined the situation. "You could walk into a building and see my duplicate and know you had met Katie, then you could meet my Mother and father. That might be fun to see."

"I'm not sure you would want to see that Ems," Naomi said, a hint of coldness in her voice.

"Why not?"

"Because if I meet your sister and your mother I might be forced to hurt them," Naomi replied, the steel in her voice sending a chill down Emily's spine. "I would teach them a lesson for what they did to you, their actions were unforgivable."

Emily felt a warm glow flow through her body at the implied threat in Naomi's words. No one had, at any point in her life, ever spoke up for her in such a way, and it made her feel wonderful that the tall girl would want to do such a thing.

"I think I would like that," Emily said shyly, "for Mother and Katie anyway, Father was pressured into agreeing with them, I know that must have been what happened."

"It doesn't matter Emily," Naomi asserted waving her spork like a blade. "He should not have allowed it to happen, that was his duty, new son or not."

"But if you hurt him then you wouldn't be able to talk to him would you Naoms," Emily answered quickly, lowering her eyes and hoping the logic would calm her aggrieved friend. "I still don't know why you would want to though."

"Well, from what you say, he sounds a very interesting man." Naomi replied, the throbbing pulse in her head easing; "and he has lots of books, I would like to see that collection, I love books you know?"

"You might have mentioned that once or twice along the way," Emily joked hoping to change the subject.

"I can't help it, I like books."

"I know."

They sat in silence for a while, Dog fast asleep between them, his back leg twitching as he made excited little yipping noises in his sleep.

"Naomi?" Emily started to say, before chucking lightly as Dog's legs went into overtime.

"He's dreaming well," Naomi said nodding down at the restless hound. "What were you going to ask Ems?"

"I was going to ask you to teach me to read," Emily said hoping that Naomi would say yes to her request.

"Well, I was going to teach you how to hunt with the bow," Naomi replied, "but if you want to learn how to read and write that's fine."

"I want to learn how to use the bow," Emily said eagerly. "Perhaps we can find time for both if you only teach me how to read, I don't think I need to know how to write things yet, you could teach me that later."

"It's the same thing Ems, you learn to read and write at the same time." Naomi said with a smile.

"Oh, I didn't know that," Emily said lowering her eyes, "I thought they were different things."

"Nah, you learn to form the words, that way you can spell out the things you read. Eventually you'll remember how the words look and you'll be able to read and write. It'll take a while though Ems, don't expect it to happen overnight."

"I won't," Emily said excitedly, "can we start now?"

Naomi looked across at her friend, noticing how lovely her eyes were when she smiled, the firelight twinkling in them. She leaned over to their log pile and took hold of a small branch; with her short camp knife she sharpened the end to a point that she placed in the embers of the fire carefully.

"Where are you going?" Emily asked as Naomi got up and walked towards the 'baffroom'.

"I need some bark," she called back over her shoulder, "We need something to write on."

Emily grabbed a stick of her own from the pile and drew the knife Naomi had given her from the sheath at her belt, she was still sharpening her own stick when her friend returned. Naomi had been amused by the fact that, like herself, Emily rarely took her knife off, sometimes even to sleep; but she had never said anything, remembering he own excitement when she had been given her own knife, and her pride when the Smith had handed her the machete he had forged for her. Knives had a special meaning in her community and she wondered if they were the same in Emily's. She watched as Emily slowly matched her actions, sharpening the point and placing her stick in the fire, She smiled as she dropped a carefully stripped piece of bark onto the floor in front of her friend, making her jump.

"Ready?" she asked, sitting down and pulling her stick from the fire; blowing out the flames, leaving a charred point.

"When you are," Emily said, lifting her own stick until Naomi's restraining hand on her wrist prevented her.

"Leave it, we'll use it when this one runs out," Naomi said, shuffling across until she was sat next to Emily. "Right, let's start with something simple; let's teach you how to write your name."

Her hand traced the letters onto the white layer on the inside of the bark, easily spelling out 'Emily'. As her friend looked on in admiration, she began to explain how the letters worked.

"Is that really my name?" Emily asked looking in awe at the bark.

"I think so, it's how my Mum taught me to spell it anyway."

"And that's an 'ee' is that right?"

"That's right, well done."

"But my name doesn't start with an 'ee' it starts with an 'Eh', 'Eh-mee-lee'" she said slowly emphasising the parts, "it's not 'ee-mee-lee'; and if that's an 'ee' why isn't it in the rest of the word?"

"I don't know why Ems, it just isn't," Naomi explained, sensing instantly just how quick Emily was to pick things up. "But that's how I was taught to write things and there was a girl in our village that was called Emily and that's how Mum wrote her name."

"But it doesn't look right!"

Naomi sighed and tried to explain what she knew about pronunciation of words, how different letters combined to make a different sound.

Emily fumed.

She showed Emily how letters were formed, carefully writing out the alphabet her mother had taught her years before.

Emily seethed at the complexity.

Then she showed Emily the capital letters and tried to explain where she used them.

Emily exploded!

"That's fucking stupid," she shouted, throwing Naomi's stick into the fire, the bark following it in short order. "Why is this so fucking complicated?" she said getting off and storming into the kitchen.

Dog, looked up and whined, suddenly concerned at the raised voice that had woken him from his sleep.

"Shhh," Naomi whispered as he came over to her, placing his head in her lap. "It's ok, it's nothing to be worried about."

She stared into the fire absently stroking Dog, allowing Emily the space and time to calm down. After ten minutes she heard feet padding behind her and felt a pair of arms wrap around her neck.

"I'm so sorry Naoms, I really am."

"It's all right Ems, I understand." Naomi replied, reaching up and patting Emily's arms. "It's hard going at first, and I'm probably not a very good teacher."

"I shouldn't have reacted like that Naoms, you're trying to teach me and all I can do is lose my temper and throw things into the fire."

Naomi tugged at Emily's arms and pulled her down to sit next to her, holding both of Emily's hands in hers.

"Look Ems, it's ok; let's just take this slowly. Tomorrow, I'll start you on your letters and you can practice learning those. Then we'll start putting them together to make words. I just thought you'd like to see your name written down and I think I got carried away."

"You still want to teach me?" Emily said, the surprise evident in her voice.

"Nothing better to do," Naomi replied grinning. "We should get some better things to work wi….ooof."

The massive expelling of air was caused by the tight hug that Emily had wrapped her up in; the shorter girl practically climbing onto her lap. With a shriek of glee Emily kissed Naomi on the cheek, sending a shiver down Naomi's spine.

"Emily…Emily!...EMS!" Naomi said, pushing her friend away from her as she showered her face with kisses.

"What?" Emily said sitting back and laughing.

"Stop that."

"I was just saying thank you for putting up with my shit."

"Yeah, well don't do it like that," Naomi said, folding her arms across her chest. She was smiling at Emily's enthusiasm, but her heart was racing ten to the dozen at the feel of Emily's lips on her face. Just like the last time Emily had placed a platonic kiss on her cheek Naomi found herself thinking thoughts that she had long since buried, because as the children in her village had repeatedly told her after their childish game, girls don't kiss girls.

o+o+o

The sky was a bright clear blue the next morning when Emily woke from a sleep haunted with dreams of her tall friend. She had woken up to find their home empty and the fire well made; Naomi and Dog nowhere to be seen. She walked out into the 'baffroom' and swilled her face in the now cold water, washing away the sleep and waking herself up properly. She heard barking in the distance and looked out through the hole in the wall that she had tried to patch with bits that she had scrounged, annoying Naomi at one point because she stole a large door that Naomi had brought over from the town to use in her meat smoker.

As she looked out in to the early morning sun she saw Naomi walking towards the house with a long stick over her shoulder, and hanging from it were a couple of fish, a rabbit and two large birds. The sunlight glinted off Naomi's goggles as she looked up from where she had been taking a smaller stick from Dog's mouth and waved across, obviously seeing Emily staring out. Emily raised her hand sheepishly and waved back, a faint smile crossing her face.

She heard Dog's excited bark and watched as he sprinted across the field, dashing off to catch the stick that Naomi's strong arm had thrown. He was bounding back mere seconds later, snow clinging to his muzzle from where he had plunged head first into a drift to collect it. Emily watched, pulling her coat around herself at the sight, her sense of their little family reasserting itself; but then it was more that that she knew, it scared her a little but she felt more for her tall companion that just friendship and family love. Emily _really_ liked Naomi really, _really_ liked her; and she found that the girl haunted her thoughts more than she believed was truly healthy.

As she stared out at her friend Emily could easily imagine, with a clarity of vision that astounded her, the bright blue eyes twinkling under those scratched lenses, and the wry smile that would be painted over her friends lovely face under that hard plastic. It didn't surprise Emily how fond she was of Naomi, it seemed perfectly natural to her; Naomi was strong, both mentally and physically and Emily had always liked that. _'I'd have liked her even if she hadn't rescued me'_ she reasoned as her mind began second guessing what she knew in her heart.

'_But you can't throw this away Emily!_' she told herself forcefully, _'You need her too much for that, you like her too much for that!'_

'_I know'_ was her answering thought, _'I know'_.

"You were up early," Emily said to her friend when finally Naomi walked into the house, shivering dramatically as Dog shoved his cold nose into her hands wanting to be petted.

"Yeah, I woke up before dawn and couldn't get back to sleep," Naomi said, putting her catch into the box they had filled with snow to keep their food fresher. "I was thinking about heading up that hill today, see what's up there, see if there's anything around to see out there," she said gesturing with an arm. "So I thought I'd get my chores done early and give myself the best part of the day to do it."

"Do you want me to come with you?" Emily asked, not missing the fact that Naomi had obviously done her morning chores as well.

"Only if you feel up to it," Naomi said casually, closing the snow filled box and taking it outside to leave it in the cold.

Emily grinned, she hadn't known Naomi all that long, but she knew when she was being deliberately obtuse. She knew that Naomi wanted her to come with her, but didn't want to come out and say it directly; it was a game that, realistically, both of them played; neither one of them wanting to come out and admit the reliance they shared.

"I mean, it's not far, but it is a bit steep," Naomi continued walking back into the room and warming herself by the fire. "I wouldn't want you to think that you _have_ to come with me if you don't want to."

"You think I can't keep up?" Emily asked frowning at her friend.

"Nah, I'm sure you can, didn't know if you wanted to," Naomi said rubbing her hands, "didn't know if you wanted to have another baff."

Emily smiled at her, ever since she had sorted her contraption, and realised that a small fire underneath would keep the water warm without cooking her, Emily had spent whole evenings soaking in her baff. Naomi laughed at her for it, adamant that it was unhealthy, especially in the snow. Emily had tried to explain how good it felt, but Naomi would have none of it, and eventually Emily had given up trying to convince her. It was more than a simple luxury though, at least in Emily's mind, it was a link to the better times, when her family consisted not of a girl and her dog; but of a mother and a father and a sister that knew her as well as anyone could. Despite the pain that they had caused her, Emily found that she missed her family, and she missed her home; her makeshift bafftub was a way of holding onto the memory of the better times, a way of holding on to her sanity through the cold nightmare she found herself in.

"I had a baff the day-before yesterday Naoms," Emily replied winking at Naomi provoking an answering grin. "You moaned at me about it then as well."

She smiled affectionately and began pulling on her thick coat and gloves; _'A dead man's coat'_ she thought, wondering at the fact that she had balked at wearing the clothes of a corpse; it all seemed so long ago.

"Oh shush, you deserve it; you're hardly ever out of that bloody thing. Look, get yourself sorted and I'll grab some food to take with us," Naomi said, picking up the hand sewn backpack that she had made Emily and stuffing it full of scraps from their stores.

"How long do you think it will take us?"

"I have no idea, but the earlier we start the more chance we have of seeing something from the top."

o+o+o

It was a hard slog through the snow, but fortunately there was a crumbling track that led them across the fields towards the hill. It was a strange sight, rising in front of them like a tower, its grassy sides visible despite the snow. Naomi led their little group around the base, looking for the best way up, only to be surprised by a path that appeared to be cut into the slope.

It was hard going for Emily as they climbed; the enforced regime of controlled food and hard exercise had given her a body that, in her opinion, looked fabulous. Gone was the slight puppy fat that she had carried for years, the slight roll of fat around her waist that Katie used to laugh at her for. Now it was replaced by a lithe figure with strong muscle tone; but despite the toning, the climbing of this steep slope was sapping her energy quickly, and the cold was seeping into her bones.

"Is there much further to go Naoms?" She panted, desperate to catch her breath through the heavy pull of her mask, the still freezing air burning as she pulled in every gasp.

"Not far," Naomi said pausing and turning back; Emily was relieved to discover that even she was breathing heavily, though admittedly not as heavily as herself.

"We'll take a breather," Naomi said, whistling for Dog through her mask. Emily looked up to see the hillside vanishing ahead of her; by her estimation they were about two thirds of the way up the hill, the rest of the way looked deeply unappealing.

"I hate hills," she said as Naomi scruffed Dog's thick coat, removing the snow from it with her gloved hands; "and I hate this fucking hill in particular!"

"I know," Naomi replied simply at her rant.

"How do you know?" Emily asked rounding back on the girl.

"Because every time we have to go up anything steeper than a gentle slope you huff and puff and mutter into that mask Ems. You complain about everything and tell me your feet hurt."

"I do that?" Emily asked, not disbelieving her friend, more amused that Naomi knew her that well.

"Well I didn't mention the swearing and the grinding of teeth..."

"I do not grind my teeth," Emily interrupted pushing Naomi over into the snow, rolling her over and attempting to put snow down her neck.

"Get off Ems it's fucking freezing, Jesus…Dog, get her off me."

As Emily tried to shove a large handful of snow down the front of a giggling Naomi's coat, she heard a low growl from next to her and a tug at her side. She looked down to see Dog's teeth gently gripping a loose part of her coat and he was pulling backwards, growling softly.

It was a warning, no matter how friendly Emily and Naomi were, and no matter how much Dog loved them together and playing happily, he obeyed his mistresses words instantly. The familiar command wasn't delivered with the force that usually meant that Dog would attack her assailant, and Dog knew that it wasn't serious, but still his mistress wanted Emily off her and she had called for his help. His insistent tug and growl did the trick, and as soon as his new friend gave up he let go, sitting back and watching events happily.

"He growled at me Naoms," Emily said staring at Dog with respect and fear in his eyes. "He's not done that for a long time."

"He's my boy," Naomi said patting her thighs and embracing the dog as he came running, "I seem to remember saying that he'll tear your throat out at a command from me."

"But he's my friend too," Emily said staring at him.

"Yeah, I think he knows that too Ems, he did pull you off quite gently after all."

Naomi got to her feet and dusted herself down as if nothing had happened, beating the snow from her clothes with her hands. "Come on then, lets press on."

Emily watched as the two of them made their way up the slope, trudging through the snow towards the summit. For a terrible second she felt quite, quite alone once more; a feeling she hadn't had since Naomi and Dog came into her life. _'Naomi _and_ Dog' _she thought morosely, it had been the two of them when they found her, and it would be the two of them when they all went their separate ways. Their closeness reminded her of the fact that she had no-one, no-one that cared about her.

There was a flurry of movement next to her and she snapped out of her daze to see Naomi sliding to a stop next to her. "Come on slowcoach," she said, reaching out and grabbing Emily's gloved hand. "Last one to the top has to clean today's catch and cook it as well!"

Laughing despite the cold air and the filter mask she was wearing Naomi dragged Emily along behind her, Dog yipping at their feet as they ran. _'Perhaps I'm not totally alone,'_ Emily thought as she struggled along behind her, _'perhaps there is a place for me here; perhaps they do want me along.'_

o+o+o

"Wow," Emily said staring over the countryside from their lofty vantage point.

"Yeah," Naomi replied, her hands resting over her goggles cutting out the light from the watery sun. "Nice view."

"Spectacular," Emily replied as she gazed over the white covered countryside; as far as the eye could see were trees and hedgerows, and as far as she could tell not a single sign of life.

"Only one smoke trail," Naomi said pointing down at the building they had left, the tiny trickle of smoke escaping from the roof, "and that's ours."

"Yeah," Emily said nodding her agreement. "I can't see anything else out there."

"We must be far off the caravan routes here," Naomi said looking all the way around her. "It's unusual for there to be no sign of life, especially somewhere that looks as rich as this place."

"Rich?" Emily asked, wondering secretly if the land wasn't plagued and that was why there was no-one living here. She had heard tell of places that were still dangerous to go, even after the centuries had passed since the 'Great Ending'; the merchants and travellers that visited her father's shop speaking of them sometimes as they discussed where they went, or where they had been.

"Yeah, the land is flat, so you could easily plough it to grow wheat and barley and vegetables to eat; there's water and game and fish. We've got shelter and everything we need, this is a great place; in some ways it's better land than the place I used to live and that did well for itself."

"You sound like my father trying to sell something," Emily joked. "Whatever it is I'll buy it." She looked out at the countryside and laughed, "I own you!" she yelled into the cold air. "I own everything I can see!"

"What are you like?" Naomi said laughing, "I've seen everything I need to see, we're on our own Ems, nothing around here but you, me, Dog and a fuck load of things for us to eat."

"Well that's ok then, as long as there are things for us to eat." Emily replied. _'As long as there is you and Dog I'm ok wherever we are'_, she thought to herself, careful not to voice it.

As they made their way across the hill Emily noticed a strange looking squared off lump in the distance and persuaded Naomi to investigate.

"It's a ruin," Emily said cleaning off some snow. "On the top of this hill, how strange."

"How so?" Naomi asked, sweeping the snow from the floor with her boot.

"It's so exposed, and there's not much room to live up here."

"Probably why it's utterly ruined then," Naomi sniffed looking about. "Who would want to live up here? It's an effort to get up and down the hill to get the things you need. I'd hate to bring water up that fucking slope."

"Yeah, Emily said shaking her head at the ruin. It was hard to see what the place had been, many of the exposed blocks being cracked and rounded by the wind. As she ran her gloved fingers along a block she felt strange bumps that caught her attention.

"Naoms," she said sweeping away the snow and dirt. "What does this say?"

"What you got Ems," Naomi asked, coming over and squatting down next to her.

"I don't know, but it looks like writing."

Let's have a look,"

Between them, the girls swiftly cleared the years of dirt from the shape, revealing a white block with black text.

"What does it say Naoms?" Emily asked, staring at the words, trying to remember the letters that Naomi had drawn on her bark.

"Can't you make it out?"

Emily turned her head to look at Naomi, hoping that her look would be understood despite the mask and goggles that were covering her face.

"You _know_ I can't read Naomi," she said, "stop making fun of me."

I'm not," Naomi said quietly, "I just wondered if you could remember any of the letters I'd shown you."

Emily studied the letters carefully, "That's a capital 'L'," she said finally. "I remember that because it's in my name. and that's a capital 'Y' at the end."

"Well done," Naomi said looping an arm over Emily's shoulder and squeezing gently.

"Thanks," Emily replied proudly, "but what does it _say_?"

"Nothing good Ems," Naomi said standing and looking out towards the horizon. "It says I've come too far south." She pointed out in a direction that was roughly North. "Where I need to be is somewhere on the other side of those hills."

"How do you know that?"

"Because," Naomi said squatting down again and running her gloved finger over the large raised letters at the top, "that says 'Glastonbury Tor', and I recognise the name from my book. It means that I'm too far South and I need to rethink the route I'm going to take when Spring comes."

o+o+o

It was on the way back that the accident happened. The girls had paused by the weir that Naomi had made to channel fish into her trap. Naomi had eased herself down the bank and tugged at the rope that brought her trap to the surface, whooping with glee at the large fat fish that was nestled within. Perhaps she was being too casual, perhaps she was showing off, perhaps it was nothing more than bad luck; but whatever caused it, the result was the same. As Naomi pulled the heavy trap out of the river, the bank collapsed under her feet and she was plunged headlong into the depths.

"NAOMI!" Emily screamed as her friend disappeared below the freezing water. "NAOMI!"

Emily rushed over to the edge of the river and looked down, careful of the ground as it crumbled before her. She wrapped her hand in Dog's thick fur to hold him back as he barked and barked, his yelps a cross of fear and excitement.

"NAOMI!" Emily yelled again, and to her relief heard an weak answering yell from further downstream; as she ran down the rivers edge, Dog bounding alongside her, she saw Naomi struggling against the flow of water to reach the bank.

"Hold on, I'm coming!" she shouted, looking around herself for something that she could use to help, seeing nothing but a short branch. Grabbing it and sprinting past the floundering Naomi she threw herself on her stomach and leaned out over the edge, holding the branch as far out into the river as she could.

It very nearly worked. As Naomi came closer Emily screamed at her to reach out and take the branch, Emily's heart was racing as she saw a hand reach out and come tantalisingly close to rescue, Naomi's fingers touching, but failing to hold onto the proffered stick, too weak to grip it firmly the cold sapping her strength as she tumbled through the water. Emily stretched herself, trying to extend her arm by that extra inch that might make all the difference, but it was no good; Naomi drifted by, her arm slumping back into the water, her energy gone.

As Emily screamed in frustration and failure, she heard a large splash and looked down to see Dog swimming towards Naomi, his head the only thing visible above the black waters. With a lurch he sunk his teeth into Naomi's body and began to swim towards the edge, dragging her almost motionless body behind him. As he hauled Naomi out of the water at a muddy slipway, Emily threw herself at her friends.

"Naomi, Naomi are you ok?"

As Dog stood by and shook the water out of his coat, showering the pair of them in icy droplets, Emily shook Naomi, rubbing and slapping the shaking girl.

"Naomi, wake up, please wake up." She said, pulling down the mask that covered her friends face and pressing her ear to Naomi's lips, breathing a sigh of relief at the breath she felt. Naomi was freezing Emily knew, Her clothes were soaked through and her skin was white and clammy to the touch. Emily didn't know much about treating someone that was this cold, but she knew she had to get Naomi awake and moving, and back to the house as soon as she could.

"NAOMI," she shouted slapping her friend across the cheek, "WAKE THE FUCK UP!"

Her terrified voice must have seeped into the frozen brain of her friend who's eyelids finally lifted.

"E..e..e..emily?" she stammered, her teeth chattering, "W...w...wwhats wwrong?"

"You fell in the river Naoms, you've got to get up and get moving or you'll freeze to death."

"Don't want to…so cold…want to lie here and get warm."

"GET THE FUCK UP!" Emily screamed, dragging at Naomi and hauling her to her knees, "You are _not_ dying on me and leaving me alone!"

To Emily's relief Naomi struggled to her feet, she could see the faint signs of ice forming on Naomi's coat and, with Dogs help, practically ran the hypothermic girl across the, mercifully short, distance back to their home.

The first thing Emily did as she dragged Naomi into their living room was stand her near to the fire and strip her; peeling off the cold, wet clothes as quickly as her own shaking hands would allow. Layer after layer of clothing was removed and finally Emily was able to wrap the naked girl in one of their blankets and sit her in front of the fire. Emily had rarely seen Naomi without her coat and jumper, and was almost surprised to find that she wasn't as big as she looked, her bulk being made up of layer upon layer of clothes. As she rubbed the blanket over her friends body, attempting to dry Naomi off, she allowed herself to admire her muscular frame.

'_Stop it Emily'_ she told herself firmly, _'she needs your help, you owe her that and more. Stop fucking about.'_

"So, cold…" Naomi said interrupting her thoughts, "want to go to sleep."

"NO!" Emily screamed, knowing on some instinctive level that this wasn't a good idea. "You mustn't sleep Naomi, you've got to stay awake; talk to me Naomi, tell me a story or something."

Emily began trying to sort things out as Naomi began to tell a story that she had heard many times before. With Dog at her feet, warming himself and cleaning his fur in front of the fire, Naomi told Emily of her time in the village, about her mother and about how she had found her four legged friend. Emily regarded Naomi with worry as her slurring voice regaled her with how she had rescued him from the boy that both loved and hated her. Naomi was worrying Emily, despite the fact that she was telling the story exactly as she remembered it, something just wasn't right. Emily piled wood onto the fire, using the smaller logs as Naomi had patiently showed her to bring up the fames quicker, feeling the warmth in the room increase.

She peeled the, now wet, blanket from Naomi's unresisting body, and replaced it with the dry one from their bedding; rubbing her hands over Naomi's skin to warm her and stimulate her circulation. All the time Naomi continued to tell her story as if automatically, barely responding to Emily's encouraging comments.

"So I faced him down you know?"

"You were very brave Naomi."

"Yeah, he was the Chief's son you know? Very important"

"You said."

"Yeah well, so I hit him with my blade and it took his hand off, and when he ran away screaming I took his knife, well your knife now, and went to hide in the woods with Dog…he was so small then you know, he fitted in my pack…so cute. I love Dog, he's my best friend in the world."

Emily's rubbing movements faltered at the thought that the knife that was strapped, even now, to her leg was the one that had threatened Dog, the one Naomi had removed from the still twitching fingers of the Chief's son Jam. He movements stopped entirely as Naomi's tired sounding voice spoke again.

"I love you too Emily, you and Dog; I love you both."

"I love you too Naomi, you and Dog," Emily said softly, "now come on, lets get you into the bed and get you warm."

'_I think I really do love you Naomi,'_ Emily thought as she helped the blanket clad girl under the covers of their sleeping bags, _'just not in the same way you love me.' _Sadly she draped her coat over Naomi's body and turned back to the fire, grabbing their cooking pot and placing it onto the embers; remembering that Naomi had fed her hot broth when first they had met, hot broth that had warmed her up and nourished her famished body, making her feel infinitely better. That done she began to wring out Naomi's sodden clothes, and lay them out by the fire to dry; all the time listening to Naomi's voice as she droned on about her journey.

"How are you feeling Naoms?" Emily asked as she sat down on their bedding, laying her hand on the girls forehead as her mother had once done to her.

"I'm cold," was the only reply, "so very cold."

Emily didn't reply, she just peeled off her jumper, and the rough over clothes that they had taken from the traveller they had found and slipped under the thin material of the sleeping bag, pressing her body against Naomi's pulling her into an embrace and rubbing her hands up and down her back. She shuddered slightly as Naomi's skin pressed against her own, it felt like the rubber of her mask, cold and clammy and horrible to the touch. Resisting the feeling of abhorrence, Emily hooked her leg around Naomi's long, strong legs and pulled her even closer; pulling them together until they were almost joined as one.

"Dog," she called gently, patting the blankets on the other side of Naomi. "Here boy, come and help me keep her warm." As the big dog walked over, and flopped down next to his mistress, Emily thought that how nice it would be to have the thick winter fur that Dog had. He seemed unconcerned by his own dip in the water, as if he had been designed to do such things.

"What's you doin' Ems?" Naomi asked, opening her eyes and fixing Emily with a look.

"Keeping you warm," Emily replied staring deeply into Naomi's eyes, eyes that she hadn't noticed properly before, not like this. Deep, blue eyes, eyes that looked into you, through you and cut you apart; beautiful eyes, eyes that she could completely lose herself in.

"Oh," Naomi said closing, to Emily's disappointment, those glorious eyes. "Thank you."

"That's all right Naoms," Emily said, kissing her gently on the forehead. "You've done it for me more than once."

Emily lay in their bedding with Naomi for hours, long after the sun dipped behind the horizon. She kept her talking as best she could, until she felt the warmth returning to her friends extremities, felt the life pouring back into her body. When she felt Naomi stop shivering and relax, she allowed her tangled nerves to unwrap, her heart rate lowering as the fear began to disappear. After a while, the slurring in her voice began to vanish as she spoke and Emily felt confident enough to get up and pour some broth into the biggest of the mugs they had found and feed it to her.

"Come on you, drink it." She said, lifting Naomi up slightly and holding the mug to her lips.

"Ems, it tastes disgusting."

Emily smiled at her reaction, if Naomi was able to complain like that then Emily knew that she was likely on the mend; she assumed that there had been no permanent damage as a result of her near drowning; and that, after a bit of time in bed, she would be as right as rain again.

"Naomi, it tasted disgusting when you were giving it to me and I still drank it. Now it's your turn."

"Yes Mum," Naomi said, laughing weakly but sipping at the drink without further complaint.

"Shut up," Emily said chucking with her, the relief palpable.

"Whatever you say Mum."

o+o+o

The next morning found the two girls wrapped around each other once more, Emily having curled up with her friend as soon as she had settled down again, her stomach full. As soon as a now warm Naomi drifted off to sleep, Emily felt confident enough to get up from their pallet and feed herself and dog, grabbing scraps of meat from the hot broth eating some and tossing the rest to Dog. Emily was glad that Naomi had been so organised in her camp craft, even if she was ill for a few days, there would be no shortage of food; their cold store and their rudimentary smoking booth keeping the meat that they had caught good for days if not weeks.

Emily sat and stared at the sleeping girl like a hawk, watching the movement of the bedding, listening carefully over the crackling fire for the sound of her breathing. She was filled with a sense of fear and loneliness again, despite the presence of both Naomi and Dog, and hoped against hope that everything would be all right. Emily had discovered that she relied on Naomi for almost everything, and without her she feared for her life, if not her sanity.

"Are we going to be okay boy?" she asked Dog, holding out a piece of meat for the hungry animal. Dog wolfed down the chunk of rabbit, licking her fingers as he took it, before placing his head on her knee. In Dog's world, everything was already all right.

Emily was awake long before Naomi that morning, she had barely slept through the night, the pressures of her situation running through her mind. What if Naomi was still ill, what if she relapsed, what if she died? Emily didn't know what to do, and wished with all her heart that the roles had been reversed, that she had fallen in the water and nearly drowned; that she had frozen nearly to death in the icy depths and the cold, cold snow. She knew that in that case, Naomi would know exactly what to do to make things right.

Emily felt like a failure, and that knowledge had haunted her through the night; despite everything that Naomi had taught her already, still she was like a baby out here in The Barrens and she knew she needed to learn even more, and learn it fast.

Silently she slipped out of the blankets, pulling on her clothes as quickly as she could; as she laced up her heavy boots she saw Dog staring at her, his bright eyes interested in what she was doing, as if asking what was going on. Emily leaned over and ruffled his fur before standing and pulling on Naomi's thick coat, unwilling to take her own from the sleeping girl in case she disturbed her.

"I'm just popping outside for a second," she whispered into his ear, "keep an eye on Naomi okay?"

Dog nuzzled her and ran his rough tongue across her cheek, it never ceased to make Emily smile when he did that, even if his breath did smell like nothing on earth. Emily piled up the fire, noticing that her breath was condensing in front of her. The room would need to be warm, she reasoned logically. Naomi needed warmth.

The outhouse was cold as Emily squatted over the hole they had dug for the necessary actions of life; she spent as little time there as she could, before heading back inside and washing her hands and face in the bafftub as usual. Feeling better she pulled on her gloves and went out to the nearest of their snares, collecting a fat rabbit before heading off to the river that had nearly cost her so much.

The trap was still there, anchored by the rope that Naomi used to haul it in and out. When Emily pulled it to the surface however it was damaged beyond repair, possibly crushed by a falling Naomi, the fish she had seen trapped in it long gone. Emily wrapped the rope around her arm, saving it for later use before walking upstream and drawing in the fishing lines that had served them so well. It was harder work than she expected and her arms ached as she pulled the string, heavy with water and their catch, in. She unhooked the two fish and re-baited the lines before throwing the rock into the water as far as she could.

Learning from Naomi's example she impaled the fish onto a branch and slung it over her shoulder, finding the method of carrying the slippery creatures much more convenient, before setting off to tend to the rest of their traps.

When she returned to the house, her traps sadly empty, she found Naomi sat up in bed, the blanket wrapped around her shoulders, reading her book.

"Hey, you're awake." Emily said dropping her catch onto the side in the far room where they did their food preparation work. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine," Naomi said, closing her book and putting it down. "I feel a bit weak, I've got a headache and I'd starving but other than that I'm fine."

"Weak and headachy, that doesn't sound like you're fine Naoms. I'll cook up one of these fish for breakfast if you'd like. Get some food down you, help you get your strength back."

"Yeah, that'd be great Ems thanks," Naomi said running her fingers through Dog's fur as he lay alongside her.

"Tell me," she said with a nervous smile as Emily pulled her knife and quickly gutted and cleaned the fish. "Why exactly am I sitting here naked?"

"Do you not remember falling in the river?" Emily asked as she sliced the fish into two neat fillets and spitting them on a stake.

"Well yeah, but not much after that, I think my brain shut down." It was funny, Naomi thought, but everything was like a fog. She remembered falling down the bank into the river, remembered the feeling of the cold water hitting her like a kick from a horse, her chest compressing. She remembered the feeling of water in her mask as he went under again and again, the fear of drowning high in her mind, but her body not responding to the signals her panicked mind was sending. After that there was nothing, well little to nothing anyway, there was one thing that remained vivid in her mind.

"Oh," Emily said, disappointed but not really surprised, " well in that case…"

Emily walked over to the fire and placed the spit into the flames to cook before sitting down, telling Naomi all about everything that happened. She told her of her fear and Dog's rescue, the enforced run back as Naomi's clothes began to freeze, and the evening where she had dried her off and put her to bed, fighting Naomi's obvious exhaustion to keep her awake and alive until she was warm and safe.

"That bad was it?" Naomi said simply when she finished.

"Yeah, you weren't great Naoms, I was worried you were going to die on me."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"Guess it was lucky I met you then Ems," Naomi said smiling at her friend. "Thank you."

Emily blushed and avoided Naomi's look, turning to pull the cooked fillets of fish off the fire. Quickly she put them into their bowls and passed one over, watching with interest as Naomi devoured it hungrily.

"Want me to cook up the other fish, or that rabbit perhaps?" Emily joked as Naomi pushed her bowl away.

"Well," Naomi said tilting her head as if contemplating the question. "Nah, I'll wait until later."

"What do you think you're doing?" Emily asked pointing at Naomi with her spork. Naomi had moved to get up, reaching out to get her clothes.

"I'm getting dressed," Naomi said quickly. "There's things to be done."

"Not by you, not today anyway!" Emily said forcefully causing Naomi to sit down again. "You need rest and I think you should take a baff."

"Wasn't yesterdays dip enough," Naomi said shuddering.

"This will be warm Naomi, I think you sitting in warm water would do you good right now."

"I don't know Ems," Naomi said doubtfully. "I still don't think it's a good idea, no matter what you say."

"I'm not taking no for an answer Naomi, you're having a baff. I'm going to light the fires and get it warm, then when its ready you're going to soak in the warmth and then it's back to bed until you're well."

"But I feel fine Ems," Naomi said, getting to her feet before sitting down suddenly as she lost her balance.

"Yeah, totally fine," Emily replied sarcastically, "obviously!"

"Ok, maybe I'm not as fine as I thought," Naomi said pulling her sleeping bag over her body once more. "I think I might take a moment, and perhaps a nap…yeah, a nap sounds good right now."

It was a couple of boring hours later when Naomi woke again. Emily had already lit a small fire under her tub and the water was slowly heating to a comfortable temperature under its gentle flames.

As Naomi slept Emily had lifted her book from the bed, removing it from the danger of the fire. She sat at one of their ancient tables and stared at the pages, flicking through them until she found the pictures which she stared at in fascination. Emily had seen pictures before of course, her father's books were full of them, but these were different, colour pictures that seemed to rise up from the page and grab you; showing scenes from a long dead age, a golden age, the age before the 'Great Ending'. Emily understood why Naomi was so careful with her book, she couldn't even begin to read the words, but the images made her want to stare and stare and stare.

Absently she found herself tracing the letters with a finger, tracing the words in the table with her nail. Suddenly having an idea she placed the book into Naomi's pack and went outside to the log pile and peeled herself some bark. Sitting at the table with a burnt stick she grabbed the book, opened it to a random page and began to write. She didn't have a clue what words she was painstakingly spelling out, but faithfully she copied word after word, looking at each letter and trying and trying to work out how to write it. It was more difficult than she thought, but she persevered, careful to keep her dirty fingers away from the pages.

"Do you always stick your tongue out like that when you're concentrating?"

Emily jumped and dropped her stick as Naomi's voice startled her. "How long have you been awake?" she asked defensively.

"Long enough to see you playing with my book."

To Emily's surprise there was no accusation in Naomi's voice, despite her usual protectiveness.

"I wanted to move it away from the fire, then I just took a look and, well…"

She glanced across at her friend who was looking at her with an encouraging smile on her face. "…Naomi it's wonderful, more than wonderful; I've never seen a book like this, it's so beautiful, the pictures…I want to be able to _read_ about them, want to see those places; Oh Naomi I want to do everything."

"You do know that most of those places don't exist any more don't you?" Naomi said softly, lying back on the bedding and putting her arms behind her head.

"Yeah, I guess I do," Emily said sadly, "but it still makes me want to go and find out makes me want to leave here and go and find them all, see what's left."

"I felt the same way," Naomi said sitting up once more and waving Emily over. "I read page after page of that book as I was growing up and dreamed of going to all of these places. Especially after Mum died; it was my main escape from the shit that my life turned into."

"That's sad Naoms," Emily said, sitting down next to her, handing her the book. "Every time you tell me about that place it makes me sad, like when you told me about that boy and Dog again last night."

"I told you that again? Jesus I really was out of it," Naomi said flicking through the book, before coming to rest on a page. "I'm sorry if I bored you again."

Emily shook her head and smiled at Naomi's apology, craning her head to see what she was trying to show her in the book. "See," Naomi said, twisting it around and showing her a picture, "places don't exist like this any more."

Emily stared down at the picture, it was one that she'd seen earlier; a tall slim tower on the top of a hill, a bright blue sky framing it against a cloudless sky.

"Where is this Naoms, have you been there?"

"_We've_ been there Ems," Naomi said reaching out and placing her hand on Emily's back. "That, my dear, is what was once called Glastonbury Tor, or "this fucking hill" as you named it. If what we read on that stone was correct, we were stood up there right next to that tower, or what is now left of it anyway."

"That's sad," Emily said staring at the picture with new eyes. "There's so much we'll never know about how it used to be, all we have are these pages; and one day they'll be gone too."

"I hope not Ems," Naomi said lying back again, "I really hope not, books like this are too precious for us to lose."

o+o+o

"Just get in Naomi," Emily ordered as Naomi stood next to the bafftub, eyeing it suspiciously.

"Are you sure I have to?" she pleaded, looking distinctly unhappy.

"It'll do you good."

Naomi frowned and dipped a finger into the water, removing it instantly. "I'm not sure..."

"Just do it Naomi, please. Just trust me okay?"

Naomi sighed, dropped her blanket to the floor and lifted her leg, placing it tentatively into the warm water. With Emily holding her arm to steady her, she lifted her other leg gingerly into the tub and turned around so she could sit down like she had seen Emily do. If she was honest the baff didn't feel that bad, and the warm water made her feet feel tingly in the extreme, flooding them with warmth. Slowly, holding onto Emily's arm, she lowered herself into the water, taking a breath as the water pressed against her bare skin.

"This doesn't feel right Ems," she complained as she managed to sit down in the water, her knees poking out.

"Shush, stretch out and let the water cover you," Emily said trying not to stare at Naomi's naked body. "Just let yourself relax in the warmth, it'll be fine; if you need anything shout me ok?"

"You're going to leave me here?"

"Well, I was going to go and sort out something for us to eat." Emily said, hoping that Naomi would ask her to stay.

"Oh, well in that case it's fine."

"What's fine?" Emily asked pushing things a little and hoping for the best.

"Nothing, it's just, I…" Naomi's voice tailed off and an uncomfortable silence fell between them for the first time in weeks if not months.

"You what ?" Emily asked breaking the silence awkwardly after a minute or so.

"I wanted you to stay," Naomi said, splashing the water with her hands. "Talk to me, you know, stop me getting bored. Though I guess I could just talk to Dog there, that might work."

The ears pricked on the bundle of fur that was looking outside through one of the larger gaps in the hastily patched walls and his head turned at the sound of his name.

"Yeah, I guess the advantage with talking to Dog is that he doesn't answer back, or argue with you," Emily said jokingly.

"Well, sometimes he does," Naomi said looking across at Dog affectionately, "and sometimes he just won't shut up either."

Dog barked and wagged his tail, he was happy, very happy in fact. His mistress was now all right, his new friend was all right and what was more they were now talking about him; as far as Dog was concerned, things were looking up. Dog had been worried about his mistress and Dog didn't like being worried; his view on the world might be simple, but as long as everyone was happy, Dog was too.

"What do you want to talk about?" Emily asked, sitting down as close to Naomi as she could, using the fire as an excuse.

"I don't know, perhaps you could start by telling me what the fuck I'm supposed to be doing in here."

"Well for starters you're supposed to be putting as much of you as you can into the warm water and then you relax."

"Relax, I _relax_; is that it?"

"Well unless you have some soap somewhere that you can get clean with yes. Besides, it'll do you good after yesterday, the warmer you stay the better."

"Soap is one thing I don't have, couldn't afford it last time I saw it. It was only just after winter and I had nothing to trade."

"Is that how you've survived, trading?" Emily asked, Naomi hadn't really told her much about her time on the road, apart from tales of specific incidents and events. She'd never mentioned how she actually lived, the day to day mundanity of just getting by in the world.

"Well yeah, if I couldn't find something I needed along the way I had to see if I could trade for it."

"What did you trade?" Emily asked, curious.

"Things I scavenged, furs, food if I could spare it, anything really. Sometimes I didn't have anything to trade and I needed food so I had to see if I could find work. Last winter I stayed at a farm and worked for them, looking after the animals on the hills for somewhere to stay and something to eat. I even ended up working on another one a couple of moon's ago, helping them to bring in their harvest. If it hadn't been for that little hold up, we might never have met."

"Well thank heavens for the harvest then, Emily said absently stoking the fire and adding branches to it to keep the flames licking at the bottom of the baff. "How much of what we found here can we trade?"

"Nearly all of it Ems, you can trade pretty much anything to the caravans as long as they want it; you should know that, didn't you say your father was a trader?"

"He called himself a Merchant actually, he could only trade in certain things, not like the caravan people. He was nothing like that, nothing like that at all." Emily fell silent and shuddered at the thought. She felt a wet hand grip her shoulder and looked up.

"You ok Ems?" Naomi asked, "You've never really talked about that, well apart from what your family did."

"I'm fine," Emily said, shaking her head and smiling falsely. "It wasn't a good time for me Naoms, I don't really like to think about it."

Emily got to her feet, catching Naomi's outstretched hand in her own as she rose, and squeezed it gently. "Will you be ok here? I'm going to, er, pop outside you know?"

Naomi nodded understandingly, knowing that her friends sudden desire to go to the outhouse had more to do with an emotional need rather than a physical one. She sat back in the warm water and wondered what had happened to her friend, what scars she carried in her mind, rather than the now healed ones on her back. Despite everything that had happened to her in her life, she couldn't imagine how Emily felt about what her family had done to her, how she had survived her time in slavery.

"He never touched me."

Naomi turned her head to see Emily stood in the narrow doorway to the house. "I'm sorry?" she said quickly, looking at her sympathetically.

"The man that bought me, he never touched me, not like that anyway," Emily said looking down at the floor. "I mean he hit me a lot, beat me with his belt. He used to starve me and then drag me behind the wagon when I 'misbehaved' and misbehaving was apparently anything he felt like punishing me for."

"Jesus Ems," Naomi said stretching out her arm and calling Emily to her. Slowly, Emily walked back to the bafftub and took Naomi's hand.

"How badly were you hurt Em?"

"Bad enough, though I sort of got used to the beatings," Emily confessed as Naomi squeezed her fingers, her thumb rubbing Emily's hand reassuringly. "The hunger and the exhaustion was the worst part, that and the things he used to tell me when he was punishing me."

"Like what?" Naomi asked without thinking, mentally kicking herself at opening a doorway that Emily might not be ready to walk through yet.

"Horrible things, he told me that he'd paid extra because I was a virgin, kept telling me that some rich person would buy me specially for the privilege of taking that from me. He used to laugh when he told me," she said tears falling freely from her eyes at the memory. "He seemed to enjoy that I would cry when he told me, then he used to say once my owner would get bored of using me he'd throw me to his men, or sell me to a brothel or something."

Emily sniffed sadly and wiped her face free of tears, Naomi pulled Emily's hand to her lips and kissed her knuckles softly.

"I was so afraid Naoms, about the life I was going to face, it was just horrible. I just couldn't imagine living like that, didn't know how I would be able to survive. I just wanted to die, but I never got the chance to kill myself; he watched me like a hawk, and then when I did get away all I wanted to do was live. It was my first taste of real freedom and I wanted nothing more than to survive to enjoy it!" She sniffed and smiled wryly, "I guess it's just my luck that when finally I got free I actually nearly died."

"You don't have to think about that Ems," Naomi said lifting her other hand from the water and wrapping it around Emily's, totally enveloping her tiny hand in her callused palms. "You're free now, you can do anything you like. You can even go home and get your revenge on your family if you'd like."

"I don't know if I ever want to see them again Naoms; I don't really know _what_ I'm going to do."

"Well I know what you're going to do right now," Naomi told her smiling, "you're going to give me a hand." To Emily's surprise Naomi pulled on her arm and began to stand up, using her as a support, unsteadily stepping out of the water and onto the dirt.

"Fuck it's cold out here," Naomi said and Emily quickly grabbed her blanket and wrapped Naomi in it, rubbing her down and dragging her quickly back to the 'living room'. When Emily had finished rubbing her body with the rough blanket, removing the water, Naomi gingerly pulled on layers of her dry clothing and settled herself in front of the fire, pulling Emily down to sit next to her.

"Ems?" she said as they stared into the flames, "You say you don't know what you're going to do, but you should know that your whole life is in front of you, I felt the same way as you did when I fled my home, I had no idea what I was going to do, just an idea that I wanted to head to where my father came from."

"Where is that Naoms," Emily said draping the dry blanket over them against the cold and tentatively slipping her arm around Naomi's waist, as the tall girl stretched out her arm and squeezed her shoulders.

"Mum said that he came from a place called Stol, all I know is that it was somewhere far to the west, near to the coast. I've been travelling that way ever since trying to find it."

"Don't you know where it is? Isn't it in that book of yours, like here was?"

"No," Naomi said sadly, "I've never found it in there anyway. It might be that the name has changed since it was written. I'm heading for a place that seems to fit the bill though, it's North of where we are now and it's a big place so I'm hoping to find someone that might know where Stol is there."

"Can I help you search for it?" Emily said quietly, asking the question that she had wanted to ask since they had set up camp here,_ Can I come with you when we leave?'_

"Why would you want to?" Naomi asked, careful to hide the elation that she felt at the thought that her friend would want to continue their journey come spring.

"Well," Emily said squeezing gently, "it's not like I've got anything better to do, is there?"

Naomi smiled at her friend, before turning back to the flames. "Well we've got a lot of time to discuss it haven't we? I think winter will be with us for a while. I guess planning things like that will pass the time while we brave the snow and ice."

"Don't forget you were going to teach me to hunt; when you're well enough that is."

"Ems I'm fine," Naomi said, "nothing some food and a good nights sleep won't cure. I can start teaching you how to use the bow tomorrow if you'd like."

"Only if you're well enough Naoms, I'm still worried about you after yesterday."

"Telling you Ems, I'm fine. I'm just a bit hungry that's all."

"You're like Dog Naomi, you're always hungry." Emily said bumping shoulders to rob her words of any offence; "And you're so skinny as well."

"What does that mean?" Naomi asked curiously.

"Well I've never seen you without all those layers of clothes on," Emily explained, "I guess I always thought you were bigger than you are."

"_You_ thought I was _fat_ didn't you, like a Elder that doesn't do any work." Naomi accused, amusement in her voice. "You don't get fat walking everywhere with little food Ems. I think I'd like to be fat, it would be nice to be able to do fuck all and still eat."

"Speaking of which," Emily said, climbing to her feet and draping the blanket over Naomi's shoulders. "I'll get the bowls, I prepared a nice stew while you were asleep; rabbit and some of those leaves and roots we collected. It should be ready now, I'll dish it up; lets get some fat onto that skinny frame of yours."

Naomi chuckled as Emily walked over to the bowls where they were stacked on the table. "You're not exactly fat yourself Ems, considering how much you eat."

Emily ignored the jibe, walking back to the fire and lifting the lid on the cooking pot and dishing up the thick stew. Naomi sniffed appreciatively as Emily handed her the bowl and began to eagerly spoon the food into her mouth.

"This is really good Ems, you're becoming quite the cook," she said, her mouth full of meat.

"Thanks, it feels nice to be able to pay my way, so to speak. I don't feel quite so useless that way."

"You're not useless Emily," Naomi said waving her spork at her. "If I thought you were useless I'd have left you behind long ago."

"Thanks," Emily said with a joking sarcasm.

"You're welcome."

They ate in silence, chewing happily on the meat and slurping down the hot gravy, Emily making sure Naomi ate her fill; topping up her bowl twice, telling her that she needed to eat to keep her strength up as justification for her mothering. Naomi found it cute, she actually was enjoying the fact that there was someone in her life, other than Dog, that seemed to want to look after her. She really hoped with all her heart that Emily was serious about tagging along with them when spring came, and she and Dog would continue on their journey. It was nice to have a friend along the way, Naomi thought, another friend that was.

"Naomi," Emily said later that evening as they sat by the fire, Naomi sharpening her machete with a stone from her pack. "Will you carry on teaching me how to read?"

"Sure, if you want," Naomi said putting down her stone and slipping the curved blade into its sheath after wiping it on her trousers. "Grab me my book."

Emily reached into Naomi's pack and retrieved the wrapped bundle that contained the hard covered book and brought it over to the bed and sat down next to Naomi. Carefully she peeled back the covers once more, under Naomi's watchful gaze, and ran her finger across the letters in the cover, the picture of a huge building now faded and torn.

"What does it say?" Emily said as she traced the letters, trying to remember what sound each one of them represented.

"AA," Naomi replied looking where Emily's finger was pointing, "I don't think it really means anything," she said at Emily's quizzical look. "From what I can tell it's the name of the people that wrote the book in the first place."

"It's heavy," Emily said hefting it. "It must mean a lot to you to carry it around in your bag."

"It does, an awful lot." Naomi said taking it from her and opening it, stroking the first page with a finger as she did so. "AA Book of British Towns" she read from the very first page. "An illustrated guide to the towns and cities of Great Britain."

"Is that what it says?" Emily asked leaning closer to Naomi, their bodies almost touching, the faint hint of electricity humming between them.

"Yeah," Naomi replied, turning her head to find her lips practically on Emily's cheek. "That's what its says."

"I can't wait to be able to read something," Emily said, turning towards Naomi, their lips practically touching.

"Yeah," Naomi replied, her skin pricking at the feeling of Emily's breath on her cheek, her pulse racing at their proximity. "Well there's plenty of time to learn Ems," she said, staring into the big brown eyes that were looking into her own blue eyes deeply. "It's going to be a long winter."

"Yeah," Emily said, knowing that she should draw back, give them both some space; but not wanting to, wanting to do nothing more than lean forward that extra millimetre or two, close the gap between their lips and make Naomi her own.

Dog looked on as the two girls sat and stared into each others eyes, their bodies leaning against each other, their lips barely moving as they spoke to one another. He blinked languidly and yawned, the warm feeling in paws and heart making him wonderfully sleepy. When he opened his eyes, the girls had moved; he didn't know who made the first move, didn't really think it mattered. What mattered to him was that instead of drawing apart, they had moved closer together, their lips meeting; eyes closed as they tenderly kissed each other. Dog laid his heavy head onto his paws, closed his eyes and settled down to sleep; leaving the girls to discover their feelings for each other in private. It promised to be an interesting winter.

_End of Part One_


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